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Irish Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Press Ombudsman upholds in part complaint against The Irish Times
Complaint On February 24th, 2025, the Press Ombudsman upheld in part a complaint by Dr Niall Meehan about an article published in The Irish Times in September 2024. The article is a piece of analysis headlined 'Time for State to hold religious orders to account'. Dr Meehan complained about a statement in the article that the 2009 Ryan Report was 'about the abuse of children and its cover-up in orphanages, reformatories and industrial schools run by 18 religious congregations'. He states that 'in fact, the Commission's report was about abuse in residential institutions regulated and/or financed by the Irish state'. He points out that after describing the remit of the Ryan Commission as though it only concerned Catholic institutions in a July 2024 article, The Irish Times had published a correction, which he appends. The September article, he asserts, repeats the original error and is therefore inaccurate, in breach of Principle 1 of the Code of Practice. Referring to the Ryan Report, the complainant states that the article refers to the failure to make 'promised' redress contributions by 'relevant congregations' but excludes reference in the Report to the redress contribution offered, but not paid, by a Protestant institution. He argues that this exclusion constitutes a 'significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distorted report' in breach of Principle 1 of the Code. Referring to the 2021 Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation Report, the complainant notes that while the publication refers to findings on the treatment of women and children 'in those institutions', it goes on to assert that the Government had been unable to reach agreement on redress contributions 'with the congregations that ran these homes'. The complainant states that the Protestant Church of Ireland had 'also refused to agree a redress contribution', and that the omission of reference to this by the publication constitutes 'a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distorted report' in breach of Principle 1 of the Code. READ MORE Dr Meehan also complains that The Irish Times did not publish a letter he sent 'to correct [its] distorted reporting'. He asserts that this constitutes a breach of Principle 1 of the Code. The publication responded that there had been no error and no breaches of Principle 1 of the Code of Practice. It said that whereas the July article had been inaccurate in its summary of the purpose for which the Ryan Commission was set up, the September article had been accurate in analysing how it did its work and how the State and religious congregations behaved in the aftermath. It noted that the complainant had himself commented that the Ryan Commission had become 'fixated' on Roman Catholic institutions. It said the complainant 'did not get to dictate' to The Irish Times, and nor did he 'have any right to referee' how the publication characterised a public report or the behaviour of organisations. It said it was 'genuinely astonishing' that the complainant would claim that failure to publish a letter from him constituted a breach of the Code of Practice. The publication said it had nothing to correct, retract, apologise for, clarify or explain. It said it was not required to publish any response to the complaint and would not publish the complainant's letter. Upheld decision Principle 1 of the Code of Practice requires publications to 'strive at all times for truth and accuracy'. It requires that any 'significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distorted report' should be corrected. It states that 'when appropriate, a retraction, apology, clarification, explanation or response shall be published'. The complainant's depiction of the remit of 'the Ryan Report' [The Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse] is correct, and this was acknowledged in the correction published by The Irish Times in July 2024 which states that whereas the article said the Commission was into the abuse of children in institutions 'run by religious congregations', it was, in fact, set up to look into the 'abuse of children in institutions and other places'. The Press Ombudsman notes that the difference is significant. The September 2024 article is, as its headline makes clear, about the State and its dealings with the religious orders. These are Catholic bodies. The 2009 Ryan Report, however, was about institutions not solely but including those run by these Catholic congregations. Analysis of the extent to which the Report dealt comprehensively with its subject is a separate matter. The publication's claim that its description of what the Report was 'about' reflects 'how it did its work' does not stand up. An inaccurate statement has been made, in breach of Principle 1 of the Code of Practice. Other parts of the complaint were not upheld In relation to the other part of the complaint regarding the Ryan Report, the Press Ombudsman notes that regardless of the inaccuracy noted in the upheld part of this decision with reference to what the Report was about, when the article states that the Report found that the sexual abuse of boys 'was endemic in such institutions', it is clear that the institutions it is referring to are the Catholic congregations. The statement about 'the most relevant congregations' is also a clear reference to some among the Catholic congregations. The Press Ombudsman finds that there is no onus on the publication to write about the situation in Protestant institutions as these are not the focus of the article. She does not accept the complainant's assertion that there is a breach of Principle 1 of the Code of Practice in this regard. In relation to the 2021 Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation Report, the Press Ombudsman notes that the article refers to the Government having been 'unable to secure agreement to date with the congregations which ran those homes'. The Press Ombudsman is satisfied that the publication refers to the congregations because the article is specifically about the State and the Catholic church, rather than to imply that the homes under investigation were all Catholic run. The first reference to the Commission indicates that its remit was non-denominational. She does not accept the complainant's assertion that the decision not to write about redress issues in relation to Protestant institutions is sectarian. It is, rather, a matter of editorial discretion. This is not a breach of Principle 1. Dr Meehan's claim that failure to publish his letter is a breach of the Code of Practice is unfounded. The Press Ombudsman finds that it is unarguably the case that the editor of a publication has full discretion when it comes to publishing letters. Appeal to Press Council of Ireland The editor of The Irish Times appealed the decision of the Press Ombudsman to the Press Council of Ireland on the grounds that there had been an error in the Press Ombudsman's application of Principle 1 (Truth and Accuracy) of the Code of Practice. The editor argued that the Press Ombudsman erred in her application of Principle 1 of the Code because in her consideration of the complaint she had not taken into account other elements of the Code, including Principle 2 (Distinguishing Fact and Comment), and the overall spirit of the Code. The editor also argued that the context in which the article was written was not taken into consideration in the Press Ombudsman's application of Principle 1. Appeal decision The Press Council decided to reject the appeal. It agreed that the Press Ombudsman had not erred in her application of Principle 1 of the Code. It also decided that it was appropriate for the Press Ombudsman to consider the complaint only in the context of the Principle of the Code cited in the complaint, which was Principle 1.
Irish Times
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
The hurt that dripped from Michael O'Brien and others has to be part of Pope Francis's legacy
Born a few years before Pope Francis , Michael O'Brien, who also died this week , will be remembered for his appearance on RTÉ 's Questions and Answers current affairs programme in May 2009. As an audience member, he spoke powerfully and agonisingly of the physical and sexual abuse he experienced in Ferryhouse industrial school near Clonmel, Co Tipperary, run by the Rosminians. The hurt dripped from him as his testimony detailed a family torn apart, a childhood ruined and a life haunted by nightmares. One of 13 children, after O'Brien's mother died in 1942 he was taken by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children 'on a scut truck' to court in Clonmel. The siblings were sent to different institutions and 'there was nothing my father could do'. Two nights after he arrived in Ferryhouse, he was raped. 'Our only crime against the State was that we were poor and had no mother,' he recalled. Although O'Brien met his wife Mary when he was aged 18, he did not tell her about the abuse until 1999. He also spoke of a suicide attempt after spending five days at the Ryan Commission inquiry into child abuse, a stark reminder of the renewed trauma that reliving these experiences could spark. As an elected politician and Fianna Fáil mayor of Clonmel from 1993-1994, O'Brien's was an unusual victim's voice, but his demand was a consistent one from many victims: 'the government and the religious orders must not do anything now without consulting us'. READ MORE Amid the tributes paid to the late pope, it is fitting that O'Brien is remembered generously too. The personal experience he outlined was part of the reason Pope Francis's visit to Ireland in 2018 was so different from the previous Irish papal visit in 1979. Thousands turned out for a 'Stand 4 Truth' protest in the Garden of Remembrance in 2018 to coincide with the pope's Phoenix Park Mass. [ 'I couldn't believe the bravery': Abuse survivors pay tribute to Michael O'Brien and his 'powerful' RTÉ testimony on child sex abuse Opens in new window ] When speaking at the outset of the papal visit, then-taoiseach Leo Varadkar eschewed the fawning tone of 1979 while Francis looked on. Varadkar referred to 'failures of both church and State, and wider society' that 'created a bitter and broken heritage for so many, leaving a legacy of pain and suffering. It is a history of sorrow and shame ... stains on our State, our society and also the Catholic church.' The warm glow around the Francis obsequies this week should not obliterate those stains or the enduring relevance of O'Brien's experiences and the trauma abuse victims continue to endure. Varadkar insisted in 2018 there was still 'much to be done to bring about justice and truth and healing for victims and survivors ... We must now ensure that from words flow actions.' That speech remains relevant for Ireland and the Vatican. O'Brien's insistence in 2009 that victims be made central has hardly been honoured to anything like the extent required. Shortly before the death of Francis, for example, the report compiled by Sheila Nunan, the independent negotiator appointed by government to liaise with religious organisations over financial redress, revealed that only two of eight religious bodies linked to mother and baby homes have offered to contribute to a survivor redress scheme. [ Pope in Ireland: Francis speaks of Church's failure to tackle clerical abuse 'scandal' Opens in new window ] What went on in Ferryhouse was known before O'Brien bared his trauma. In 1990, the Rosminian provincial Fr James Flynn was unambiguous: 'The greatest guilt has to be borne by those of us who utilised or condoned or ignored the extreme severity, even brutality which characterised at times the regime at Ferryhouse.' Yet even a quarter of a century later during the pontificate of Francis, and after an avalanche of evidence of abuse, the Vatican prized its power over its responsibilities and culpability. True, Francis met victims, listened to them, and appealed for forgiveness. He summoned bishops to tell them survivors deserved 'concrete and efficient measures'. But the self-serving bureaucracy was still allowed to choke transparency. Marie Collins, a victim of clerical sex abuse in Ireland in 1960, and appointed a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors established by Francis in 2014, resigned in 2017 over what she regarded as a 'shameful' lack of co-operation. The commission was incorporated into the Roman Curia, the Holy See's all-too-powerful government. In 2022, Francis was still pleading for a 'reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change' in relation to child abuse and its survivors. O'Brien railed against the non-disclosure agreements victims were faced with as part of the redress process and decried the indemnities given to religious orders in return for patently inadequate contributions. Ultimately, what he was looking for was reflected in the name of the group he chaired: 'Right to Peace'. That finding such peace was made so difficult for so many should also be recorded as part of the legacy of Francis's pontificate.
