By Bruce Arnold
Monday July 27 2009
John Kelly is a leading figure among the abused. Few people in the past 10 years can be unaware of his Daingean ordeal, flogged on the staircase of that abominable institution, his cries echoing up through the silent and listening dormitories, his punishment a fearful example.
For the past 10 years he has worked as Dublin spokesperson for Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (SOCA), fully aware of the public debate involving politicians and the Church, and also the behind-the-scenes debate. Irish SOCA stood for the abused and was independent. It spoke against consensus. It condemned the State’s silencing of the abused.
John Kelly was helped by Patrick Walsh, from London, and Jim Beresford, in Huddersfield. Beresford knew Father Moore, who exposed the Artane regime in 1962. Kelly emerged in the wake of the Ryan report to tell his experiences yet again.
He took a leading position, speaking on behalf of the abused, notably in respect of the pressure from the Government to get more funding from the Religious Orders.
The plight of the abused took on new impetus after the Ryan report, with the march from Parnell Square to Leinster House. This impetus and focus fell apart as a result of a letter written by Kelly to Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore on July 8, a week before the tabling of its Institutional Child Abuse Bill. In that letter Kelly wrote: “The Labour Party has Irish Soca’s permission to inform the Dail or other parties of interest that Irish Soca has requested the Labour Party to defer this bill until the outcome of the audit is known and government is better placed to make judgment on the way forward”. The letter supported the Government in opposing the bill. It failed its first reading.
The authority of the statement in the letter is being widely questioned. There was no reported meeting of “the membership of Irish SOCA”, whose numbers and membership are not known to me. The three I do know are named above. Jim Beresford told me he was not party to recent decision-making. Other organisations are not included. Nevertheless, the letter has had an impact far greater than Irish SOCA achieved during its campaigning over the past 10 years. The letter is viewed as having killed the Labour Party bill. This raises important questions that need answering.
Kelly called for cross-party consensus: “support of Government is absolutely vital” and he referred to “government initiatives” and to the Government being “better placed to make judgment on the way forward”.
We should not overlook the fact that Eamon Gilmore and those close to him did offer consensus and did seek government agreement. They said they would withdraw their bill if the Government drafted a similar one. We should also not exclude the culpability of Government on many issues during the past decade and the slow pace of initiatives now.
The Irish State, not just the Government, has been shrewd and skilful in eliminating consensus. Most of the questions that need answering concern representation. Who does John Kelly speak for and is it representative? How do the other voices of the abused make themselves heard?
There are more than 14,000 who have received state compensation. Many of them, some I have spoken with, feel that nothing more should be attempted, since it will go wrong. No one has asked them. There is a mechanism.
In its 16th newsletter, the Redress Board tells readers about procedures “and other developments”. “Other developments” include calls for more money from the Religious Orders and a new government approach. A far more forensic response could have been sought than abused group leaders giving their opinions.
Abused people were represented by lawyers, another contact route. Structures are available and a comprehensive database of abused must exist for ascertaining the attitudes of those for whom the Government is now seeking further financial contribution. The victims of industrial school abuse should be represented in exact terms. What has happened so far is far from exact.
When President Mary McAleese issued her invitation to the abused to come to meet her, all the invitations went to the abuse organisations, who then distributed them. None went directly to victims. The result was not a broad representation of well over 14,000 men and women.
When the Government met on June 3, supposedly with “abuse survivors and their organisations”, only “organisations” were present. I have reservations about this process. The organisations were Right of Place, Alliance Victim Support Group, SOCA UK, Aislinn, Irish SOCA, Justice and Healing for Institutional Abuse, True Survivors of Institutional Abuse and Irish Survivors of Institutional Abuse.
When Children and Youth Affairs Minister Barry Andrews met abuse victims in London, his audience was very select. Very few people knew. Significant independent sufferers were not included, and this undermined trust.
The Government favours control, not consensus. For 10 years it was responsible and its supposed surprise and horror at the Ryan report was a sham and a mockery. The Government made the wrong responses. Kelly siding with the Government is a surprising development and an entirely new direction for Irish SOCA.
Expectations of the abused will not be realised if no one knows what they are. The Religious Orders have put away their cash and will not deliver. If they do, the State will not know how to administer the money, having ignored the Labour Party solution.
Jim Beresford is the living epitome of the abused. He said to me last week: “this is not a strategy at all; it is a capitulation”.
It’s now finally emerging how many of our own are speaking with forked tongues. Running with the hare and hunting with the hound! The truth always surfaces. How much did you take in our name? The hypocrisy is sickening! The fact of the matter is you have never had nor never will possess an ounce of character and as for integrity … go chase for that in your warped views of life prior to the institutions. Your father never stepped outside this country. He was a cook in the army who had to be dragged back more often than he was working. He was a wuss, a child molester …. ‘sfunny the apple never falls far from the tree! Fancy a child molester and rapist setting themselves up as part of a group purporting to represent survivors. We’ve truly had enough and naming and shaming will be the order of the day!
NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US
I was told I couldn’t attend the meeting on Sunday 17 August so sheer bloody mindedness got me and others in our cars from all over Ireland and sat around that table with our so called representatives who can’t even agree with each other on important issues that affect so many lives. Perhaps if we were to be more pro-active rather than reactive a lot more could be achieved. Paper never refused ink as they say, now is the time for ALL our voices to be heard! Each and every voice of the 14,000!
Hi Clare
Probably true. I’ve since heard that people NOT from the Institutions were invited by ‘leaders’ who didn’t have the numbers in their ‘organisation’ to match the number of invites they asked for! Apparently hurried ‘phonecalls were made to fill the tickets. Disgraceful.
Sorry Andrew, cannot agree with you that every Industrial School was at the “Happy Day’ in the Park. I know of one school where NOT ONE Invite came their way
I have read just about every memoir of every Irish adult who has survived HOLY CATHOLIC IRELAND and what the vast majority (at least 80%) don’t get, is that they wouldn’t have been RIPPED APART as children had their own biological parents not have ‘thrown them to the wolves’ !!!
But that’s what happens with societies dominated by religious ideology, i.e., when we let our lunatics rule the roost!
If there is any justice in this world the Ryan Report should see the ultimate disposal of the religious orders.
Thank you Bruce.
One of the few people I know with true understanding and empathy.
From years of experience we know how this Patriarchal system operates and how the victims are always kept in the dark by the powers that be.
After all- they were seen by eugenics supporters as disposable children- so now disposable adults.
Only the blue blood of the interbreeding elite was considered worthy of respect- except all that interbreeding has bred soulless leaders.
Shudder the thought that the real truth would come to light – straight from the lips of the abused.
Imagine the affect that would have on our nation and on the world.
It will be like South Africa- weeping and then healing.
At least they had the backbone to bring healing public.
Imagine the people seeing the real tears and suffering of the irish abused on RTE.
No, the system does not want that- as then the real healing could begin for all the people of Ireland- and we are all in this together, whether we like it or not.
For too long the shepherds have drove us sheep into the pens prepared for us.
Now it is our turn to break free of those pens and be allowed to speak out freely in the media.
Of course the abused will not be photogenic, but that is how life is- abused children become sad adults mostly.
The media, controlled by the elite, must step back now and allow the light of truth to shine.
You rich powerful elite have had your time in control and there you wrecked the lives of vulnerable innocent human children.
So, go hang your heads in shame and step aside and allow love and light to take over.
I think there was a fairly broad representation of people from the Institutions at Our Day with the President. Actually I believe every Institution on the list had someone from it that day. I met NEW people who were in Institutions in Limerick, Tralee, Galway, Louth, Dublin, Tipperary, Waterford, Cork, Kilkenny, Wexford, Sligo, Monaghan, Cavan, and Laois !
The government has always ALWAYS spoken with a forked tongue when it comes to the protection of children – it has been honing this skill since 1916:> The ‘To Cherish All The Children Of The Nation Equally’ declaration was immediately downgraded to exclude the children of the poor and children per se.
The publication of the Ryan Report made this abuse saga OURS … it does not belong to the government, the religious orders or any organisation … it belongs to each individual who was abused in the Institutions that were managed by the religious orders AND funded by the government.
The phrase: Nothing About Us Without Us means just that! It’s not for the government to decide the future for us without consulting us. Their manipulation of this situation is a disgrace and the government appear HAVE manipulated people.
What price, I wonder, will WE have to pay for this?