PRESS RELEASE.
The Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’ Keeffe TD, today [Sunday] announced the membership of the committee that will oversee the erection of a memorial for victims of institutional abuse.
As recommended by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the memorial will permanently recognise the suffering of abuse victims in State-run institutions.
The Ryan Commission recommended that such a memorial should be erected and inscribed with these words of apology from the then Taoiseach in May 1999: ‘On behalf of the State and of all citizens of the State, the Government wishes to make a sincere and long-overdue apology to the victims of childhood abuse for our collective failure to intervene, to detect their pain, to come to their rescue.’
The remit of the committee is to:
consider the views of the survivor groups in relation to the location and nature of the memorial to be erected;
make recommendations on the location and nature of the memorial in a manner that best takes account of the views of the groups representing the survivors of abuse and to consider arrangements for a national day of remembrance and solidarity;
oversee the commissioning and delivery by the Office for Public Works (through competition) of the design and building of the memorial.
In announcing the membership of the committee, Minister O’Keeffe welcomed the willingness of those concerned to become involved in this important project.
‘The memorial will be a permanent reminder of a dark period in Irish life when we collectively failed the most vulnerable members of society.
‘As a responsible and caring society, we must fully face up to the fact that wrong was done, that hurt was caused, that we must learn from the mistakes of the past, and that we must never allow those horrific events to visit our people again,’ said Minister O’Keeffe.
The committee will be chaired by Séan Benton, former Chairman of the Office of Public Works, with Bernadette Fahy and Paddy Doyle representing survivors of abuse.
The other members of the committee are Seán Ó Laoire of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland; Monica Corcoran of the Arts Council; and Billy Houlihan, formerly Cork County Architect.
A budget of €500,000 is being set aside for the project which will be managed by the OPW. (Office of Public Works)
The Department of Education and Science will provide secretarial services for the committee.
ENDS
Thank you Margaret. I appreciate you good wishes. Pity other people wouldn’t give me the same good wish rather than hurl abuse at me every chance they get. I’m immune to it at this stage. I won’t and neither should anyone else forget those people with disabilities who were abused and who due to their disabilities were unable to speak for themselves. Let’s have it all out in the open. Let the volcano blow its top and let’s have the support of ALL people whether they were abused or not for disabled people who don’t have the voice the most of the rest of the world have. If you want support or back up then don’t feel alone in that quest. Paddy.
The tech you refer to are sort of robots working away in cyberspace! Keep making comments, welcome aboard!
paddy, delighted you are on this committee and will represent disabled survivors.
tried to say more but the techs said i was putting in a message i sent before…huh??
paddy, delighted you are on this committee and will represent disabled survivors. don’t forget the learning disabled in the brothers of charity even though their abuse hardly mentioned in state reports and the mccoy report a travesty of justice. still want to blow a huge volcano on this institution but need back-up!
i am looking into the time my grandfather paddy doyle from hennessy avenue kileely limerick, spent in the industrial homes in glin and also in dangain. i would like to know why he was sent there and of his experiances there. he was born in 1927 and died in 2002 and i think he would have been about 13 when he first was a guest of the state. there has been restituion made to the family through the courts. this is just something i personally would like to look into but i dont know where to start so all replies are welcome x x
Andrew no more speaking with a forked tongue!
Thanks for that Andrew. This site has now been going for ten years. Over those years I’ve noticed that people are no longer prepared to be silenced. “Say it loud and say it Clear”
This site is, in a way, a memorial. It’s where we can use our voices – no longer silenced – emerged so to speak!
Fiona. The memorial committee has only had one meeting so far. As a member of that committee I can say that there has been no decision whatever on what the memorial will be. All of that has to be gone through with the various parties working on behalf of survivors of abuse.
Paddy.
Is there a website dedicated to this memorial? I saw a piece in the irish times today 17th Dec outlining that submissions will be taken in relation to the memorial, Who will be accepting the submissions & will they be taken seriously? Think a lot of people may want to make submissions & the difficulty for the committie may well be where this memorial will stand.
Who, in their right mind, believes the “pious” utterances of Batt O’Keeffe – or any other well-established Irish politician???
Not me.
By what right have these “six survivor representative groups” the right to be either “shocked or disappointed” at not being consulted by the Education Minister regarding the setting up of the Memorial Group?
The arrogance of these self appointed groups expressing “shock” is breath-taking. None of them have a mandate to represent people who where abused while in industrial schools and other institutions.
As one of the people appointed to The Memorial Group, I will be doing all I can to ensure that people who suffered abuse will be informed of everything that is decided by the Ministerial appointed group. I won’t be sneaking off to consult with Bishops and other clergy without informing any of the people these groups purport to represent in order to get the clergymen to put pressure on the government to do anything. The same groups were at the meeting where “NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US” was introduced to them and to the government. They ignored that and choose to “do their own thing”. I repeat what I’ve so often said in public, none of these groups have ever sought a mandate to speak on my behalf. Had they done so, they wouldn’t have been given it. This is a view shared by many survivors who have written publicly to this website over the past weeks.
It’s to me that begrudgery is alive and well among groups who claim to represent “victims of abuse” is to say the very least of it, dubious.
Questions abound not the least of which is: Where were these representatives when “Nothing to Say” (Mannix Flynn) “Children of the Poor Clares” (Mavis Arnold and Heather Laskey) and “The God Squad” (Paddy Doyle) were published?
Good to see that you’re recognised, Paddy. A memorial is one thing, but it’s too easy for the gov’t and church to cooperate then move on. In 20 years time it’ll just be part of the landscape. You need to hit the guilty parties hard and keep on hitting them. I would sooner see this than a stone column: Commission a good independent historian to research and write the whole ghastly story. Make sure he or she has the fullest authority to examine church, gov’t and other archives. Commit gov’t funds to publishing the results without any censorship. Establish a Chair at a major University to continue research and analysis much as other historians do re the Holocaust. Set up a department to record as many oral histories as can be found before the victims get too old and frail. Establish links with other scandal-hit countries so you can be the world authority for catholic predation.
I’m sure you can expand this line of thought.
Survivor representative groups have expressed shock and disappointment that they were not consulted about the appointment by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe of a committee to oversee the establishment of a memorial to victims of institutional abuse.
http://www.examiner.ie/ireland/survivors-of-sexual-abuse-urged-to-reach-out-for-help-103789.html
Seems while these guys were in this secret tete-a-tete with the Bishops the elected Government was keeping one of the promises made to US in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan Report.
Andrew, many thanks for the kind comment. Mannix Flynn’s “Nothing to Say” and Mavis Arnold’s and Heather Laskey’s “Children of the Poor Clares” as well as my own work “The God Squad” did pave the way for the opening of TV documentaries and other books relating to the horrors of abuse in institutions run by religious orders and the state. Commentators often forget this and without blowing my own trumpet so do the so called “Representatives of Survivors”. Where were they when these book were on the market – the books are still available. Let those who purport to speak for people abused while in institutional care take note of that.
Great post Paddy … and about time you started blowing your own trumpet. There’s many of us out here who want to hear your voice Paddy. Yourself, Mannix and Bruce Arnold’s wife started all this with your books – small voices at the start to be sure but they shook the complacency of this country and it’s abject obsequiousness to the Religious Orders and their fellow travellers. Speak on Paddy and lead on as well.
It is indeed noteworthy that the day of the meeting with the Taoiseach and his Ministers, I approached at least three or four Irish groups purporting to represent survivors of abuse and asked if they could facilitate me in getting into that meeting. They all replied “It’s by invitation only” – a diplomatic way of saying “NO” perhaps. SOCA UK did approach the Department of Education and other government departments to ensure I was there. Mick Waters felt I should have been at the meeting and made no secret of that when dealing with officials of various government departments. I was happy to work with SOCA UK who accepted that I was an independent voice but one that deserved to be heard. Were I not at that meeting the slogan NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US would never have been born. Now, thankfully it is in common usage. Petty as it might sound, none of the Irish groups appeared to want me on their ‘team’. I’d never have had my say were it not for SOCA UK who “took me under their wing” and respected my right to speak independently.
It’s notable that no one from the secret meeting in Maynooth with the bishops has been appointed to this committee ….
The meeting with the elected Government we were at Paddy, with Mick Waters from SOCA UK, and where that memorable phrase was first used: NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US, seemed to herald a new chapter – OUR OWN CHAPTER – but this secret meeting has cast doubt on the sincerity of those four people. Remember Paddy that they even tried to exclude you from that meeting with the Government in the aftermath of the publication of the Ryan Report.
It seems to me that the Government, by your appointment, has sussed out who are the genuine voices of US survivors.
Posting this message at the request of Kathleen O’Malley.
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Hi Paddy.
I have posted my comment wonder if it will appear. Just in from Court.
I wrote along these lines. Do post it in case the Gremlins are about. Well done Paddy. It is good to see a well respected campaigner represent the Survivors. You have worked very hard over the years.
Kate.
Hi Paddy
This is great news and, hopefully a portent of things to come.
Dear Paddy, congratulations and I know you will put your heart in it for all of us who live abroad. You really have my mandate and if ever anyone was deserving of it then it is you Paddy. A big hug to you, Charles.
Very nice. Well done, Paddy.
Margaret, many thanks for your very kind words. They are much appreciated. Let’s hope that I and the other members of the Committee can do justice to all those people who suffered so badly while in Industrial Schools and other institutions. I’m glad I was of some help to you over the years.
Best wishes
Paddy.
So pleased to see you are to Represent Survivors of abuse Paddy. At last a true representative.
You were the first person I contacted for support and advice when I discovered the true extent of my late father’s childhhod in the Industrial schools.
You have been such a support to me and a great many others.
I will be thinking of you as you carry out your duties. Good idea to have a memorial to allow a focus for survivors and their families. We can visit to remember all the children that went through the Institutions.
Take care
Regards
Margaret
Go, Paddy! For once, not a single ‘familiar’ name on there…those who ‘represent’ without representing.
FINALLY!
Good to see your name in there Paddy.
Well done Paddy