Michael O'Brien, abuse survivor and former mayor of Clonmel, dies aged 92
/ YouTube
MICHAEL O'BRIEN, A survivor of child sexual abuse who famously tackled the government during a televised debate in 2009, has died.
He passed away peacefully at his daughter Geraldine's home yesterday at the age of 92.
Michael O'Brien, who previously served as Lord Mayor of Clonmel in 1993, was a member of a live studio audience for RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme in 2009.
As a child he had spent eight years in St Joseph's Industrial School, also known as Ferryhouse, in Co Tipperary where he was raped and severely beaten.
He spoke out following the publication of the Ryan report, which had examined child sexual abuse in Church-led institutions.
The report came a decade after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was commissioned by the government in 1999.
Addressing then-Minister for Transport and Fianna Fáil TD Noel Dempsey, O'Brien detailed his own experiences with the commission, which was published a week before the broadcast.
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O'Brien asked Dempsey if the government would freeze the assets of religious institutions if they didn't pay more into the Redress Board Fund, which had been a topical issue at the time.
Dempsey replied that 'it's not a power that the government has'.
'The constitution protects the right to private property,' he said, adding that it wasn't an option for them.
In a passionate response to Dempsey, O'Brien told the panel that his account of being raped and beaten had been questioned at the commission of investigation into institutional child abuse by the barristers and judges, and the effect that had on him.
He said that he had attempted to take his own life after spending five days at the commission.
'They brought a man over from Rome, 90 odd years of age, to tell me I was telling lies, that I wasn't beaten for an hour non-stop by two of them from head to toe without a shred of cloth on my body,' O'Brien told Dempsey.
Shortly after he spoke out, presenter John Bowman said that his speech was the most memorable moment of the show in 23 years.
Speaking on an RTÉ documentary filmed years after the programme, O'Brien said that he had 'no idea' what he was going to say until he saw the minister.
"And I knew then now or never...", Michael O'Brien explains why he spoke out on Questions & Answers in 2009.
#Redress
- Breaking the Silence, part 2, tonight, 9.35pm
pic.twitter.com/HcFw3EcOIT
— RTÉ One (@RTEOne)
March 3, 2020
But he knew that after Dempsey's answer, that it was 'now or never'.
O'Brien is predeceased by his wife Mary. His funeral will take place tomorrow morning at St. Mary's Church in Clonmel.
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