Michael O'Brien, former lord mayor of Clonmel and abuse survivor, has died
Michael O'Brien, a former lord mayor of Clonmel and sex abuse survivor has died.
He appeared on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme in May 2009 where he outlined in detail his experiences of being abused as a child in St Joseph's Industrial School in Co Tipperary.
Mr O'Brien spoke out following the publication of the Ryan report into clerical abuse.
The report came a decade after the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was set up by the government.
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Thousands of complaints were heard by the commission from former residents of predominantly Catholic institutions.
The Commission found that such abuse was endemic in boys' institutions, and in some residential institutions.
During the RTÉ programme, Mr O'Brien revealed how his own experiences with the commission went.
He explained that he tried to take his own life after spending five days at the commission.
The late mayor of Oliver Plunkett Terrace, Clonmel died today at his sister Geraldine's residence. He was predeceased by his wife Mary.
His death notice on
rip.ie
reads: 'Michael (former Mayor of Clonmel), sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his family Geraldine, Peter, Martin and Catriona, sister, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, extended family and his many friends.'
Mr O'Brien will be reposing at Fennessy's Funeral Home from Wednesday at 5pm until 7pm with removal on Thursday morning to St Mary's Church, Irishtown, Clonmel for 10am Requiem Mass at followed by interment in St Patrick's Cemetery.
Another former lord mayor of Clonmel Darren Ryan described Mr O'Brien as giving 'so much to so many during his lifetime'.
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A wise man in criminal law once told me that a defendant who has pleaded not guilty to a crime he knows he committed fears nothing more during his trial than the eyes of the judge. Perhaps that explains why Richard Satchwell rarely looked up at the bench during the trial that found him guilty of the murder of his wife. A chilling silence descended on the packed courtroom at the Central Criminal Court last Wednesday morning just as Mr Justice Paul McDermott handed down the mandatory life sentence to the former lorry driver. I wondered what Satchwell must have been thinking as he kept his head bowed – if he felt remorse; then I realised that a man who had hidden his wife's body for six years in a secret grave he dug under the stairs of their home, while courting national publicity in an attempt to convince people he loved her, and would give anything to welcome her home, was emotionally stunted. His only regret was that he got caught. Did he love his wife? It's possible. 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Lucy Freeman, the American writer best known for her articles on psychiatry and mental health in The New York Times, once wrote: 'Murder is the apex of megalomania, the ultimate in control.' Her words resonate with relationships that are hinged on coercive control, where the man demands to know his female partner's whereabouts at all times, where social connections to family and friends are discouraged, where freedom of movement is restricted. Years of research has shown that it's mostly inadequate men with fragile egos who kill women. They hate their own vulnerability, which can only be overcome by the subordination of others – mostly their wives and female partners. Sarah, the partner of a close friend, agreed to talk to me recently about her former husband who she eventually left after years of physical and emotional abuse, including a threat to her life that finally made her realise he might kill her. 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