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Irish Examiner
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Grace is not a victim of unfortunate oversight, but a citizen whose rights were repeatedly violated
Living as a disabled woman in Ireland means being underestimated, having your capacity constantly questioned regardless of your impairment, being infantilised, silenced, excluded, and rendered a nuisance. As women, we are marked by difference. Cultural and institutional memory often omits us, except for moments of public shame; even then, we are not centred — merely exposed. The story of Grace, a non-speaking, intellectually disabled woman left in an abusive 'foster' home for decades, is not just one of personal harm. Like many wrongdoings in Ireland, it is cloaked in euphemism, delayed accountability, and procedural malpractice. As a nation, we are culpable of collusion and cultural dissonance. In 1989, Grace was placed by the State in a 'foster' home that was never assessed or registered for foster or respite. The placement wasn't an oversight; it was a bureaucratic gamble with a disabled child's life. For decades, the State looked away. Reports of abuse circulated for years. The first real public conversation about vulnerability and disability emerged much later, amid outrage sparked by the Ryan Report (2009) and the Áras Attracta scandal (2014). These moments should have created a lasting national transformation, but outrage without structural change is merely a performance of eloquent rhetoric claiming shock and disgust. There is an inertia surrounding the abuse and mistreatment of disabled children and adults in this country. The Farrelly Commission and the State's decision not to proceed with the second phase has left 47 children unaccounted for. Ireland has signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). However, it has still not ratified the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT), which would allow for independent monitoring of settings where people are deprived of liberty. Ireland's discourse surrounding disabled lives is reductionist, patronising, and insulting in its reporting of Grace; this insulates systemic actors from critique. News coverage of her situation often fails to centre her as a person with rights. Cultural ableism thrives when language strips disabled people of our complexity, autonomy, and dignity. Philosopher Miranda Fricker describes this phenomenon as epistemic injustice — when someone is denied credibility or recognition as a knower of their own life. Grace, through her legal team, submitted extensive materials to the Farrelly Commission, but none were included. The result was a 2000-page report about her, from which her mediated voice was excluded. The Farrelly Commission, established in 2017, arrived late and left early. Phase two — which was intended to explore the experiences of 47 additional children placed in the same abusive home — was abandoned. Officially, this was deemed 'too complex.' The omission of the second phase is not merely a policy gap but an ethical failure. It denied others like Grace - such as Frances O'Keeffe, featured in these pages yesterday - the opportunity to name their harm and be heard. Here, we encounter profound cultural dissonance: policies, practices, and procedures treat disabled lives, voices, and experiences as inconvenient. The disability lens is rarely included as a perspective in public inquiry and never as the central framework. We are not considered worthy of an easy-to-read format or an executive summary. Grace's status as a ward of court meant she had representation and a right to speak; yet, the inquiry into her treatment refused to include her submissions. Throughout the Farrelly Report, there is no trace of her as a legal subject, no evidence of her, and no formal communication with her by the Commission. Grace, through her legal team, submitted extensive materials to the Farrelly Commission, but none were included. The result was a 400-page report about her, from which her mediated voice was excluded. File picture: iStock Grace's narrative is gendered. Most abuse cases in institutional care, such as Áras Attracta, involve disabled women. Misogyny, like ableism, is embedded in the perception of harm as minimal. Disabled women often experience multiple forms of erasure: we are deemed too dependent to consent, too marginal to protect, and too complex to be believed. This erasure is linguistic as much as legal. Reports often use the passive voice — 'mistakes were made,' 'oversight failed.' When the language of bureaucracy overtakes the moral clarity required to name harm, disabled women like Grace become collateral damage in the pursuit of institutional self-preservation. The facts of the case are not ambiguous. Grace was placed in an un-inspected foster home. She remained there for 20 years despite a documented history of abuse concerns. The State had multiple opportunities to intervene — and chose not to. In 2017, the Farrelly Commission was formed. In 2024, it issued its report — over 2000 pages, €13m spent — and Grace's voice was still absent. Grace is not a singular failure but a symbol of systemic neglect. Her story is one chapter in a broader narrative that Ireland has yet to confront: the persistent, patterned erasure of disabled people from our histories, protections, and safety. If justice is to mean anything, it must begin with truth. That means revisiting the Farrelly Report—not with neutrality but with moral clarity. It means reinstating phase two. It means recognising Grace not as a victim of unfortunate oversight but as a citizen whose rights were repeatedly violated. Like so many others, Grace's voice will remain silent in the public record until we rewrite it—not posthumously, but now, while we still have time to act. Dr Rosaleen McDonagh is a playwright from The Traveller community.
RTÉ News
03-05-2025
- RTÉ News
The Christian Brothers: assets, abuse and accountability
As clerical child sexual abuse scandals grew in the 1990s, the Catholic Church was already starting to sell off, divide and divest its assets. The Christian Brothers were too. Survivors of Christian Brother abuse often point to the Brothers' assets, seeing the congregation as steadfast in the protection of those assets, while indifferent to their childhood abuse, and its impact on their adult lives. Some of what the Christian Brothers sold was substantial: 29 hectares in Booterstown, Dublin for the development of suburban housing in 1990; an entire estate of 384 houses in the Charlemont development on its Marino lands between 1990 and mid-1993. Those were part of large legacy lands attached to headquarters and administrative buildings, bought by or gifted to the congregation in connection with its charitable role, operating schools and accommodating and maintaining Brothers as teachers, all for its mission to educate, particularly the poor. But it also sold the land of its former industrial schools. One was St Joseph's Industrial School in Salthill, Galway, Ireland's last industrial school. It finally closed in 1995. Harrowing accounts of child sexual abuse at St Joseph's Salthill and five other residential institutions run by Christian Brothers featured in the Ryan Report, published by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse in 2009. On St Joseph's Salthill specifically, the Ryan Report concluded that the Congregation of Christian Brothers had "protected its own reputation instead of protecting children". St Joseph's Salthill and its 25 acres of land was jointly owned by the Christian Brothers and the Bishop of Galway. By May 1995, they were ready to sell it to developers, but there was a hurdle. The previous bishop was one of the joint trustees, and he was Bishop Eamonn Casey. Casey had resigned and was in hiding abroad after revelations that he had an affair, fathered a child, and then rejected it. The hurdle was easily overcome. In Dublin, Christian Brothers completed the paperwork to transfer its share to its new leaders as trustees, and, from Lakeland, Florida, in the USA, on 17 May 1995, "the Most Reverend Eamonn Casey, of The Cathedral, Galway" signed an indenture to transfer his share to the new bishop, his legal document witnessed by an Irish priest, "Rev Peter Quinn, St Anthony's Catholic Church, Lakeland". The sale went ahead, and over three years, the Brothers and the new Bishop, James McLoughlin, went on to sell St Joseph's land for prime residential development, from Lower Salthill down to the prom. Last year, the public learned from an RTÉ documentary that in 2007, the Vatican had formally removed Casey from ministry due to separate allegations of child sexual abuse against him. The 1995 memorial of indenture by Casey and a former Christian Brother leader was just one document out of thousands examined by RTÉ Investigates that demonstrates how entangled legacy assets and legacy abuse are for the Catholic Church and the Christian Brothers. When the first wave of victims of institutional child sexual abuse came forward, the bill for compensation grew. The State redress scheme of 2002, where religious orders made a contribution towards the cost, granted the orders an indemnity against future claims. That left the taxpayer footing a €1.5bn bill for institutional abuse alone. Artane in north Dublin was one of the most notorious of the industrial institutions. Between 2000 and 2020, the Christian Brothers sold off most of its Artane institutional land for housing developments such as the St David's and Whitethorn estates. The old Artane building became St David's CBS, which last year rebranded as St David's College and started to become co-educational. Beyond the building itself, it has few reminders of its grim past. But the public spotlight has turned to abuse in day and boarding schools, prompted by an RTÉ Radio 1 Doc on One programme 'Blackrock Boys', which drew public attention to abuse in schools run by another order, the Spiritans, formerly the Holy Ghost Fathers. Last year, an official scoping inquiry into historical child sexual abuse in schools reported that the Christian Brothers had by far the highest number of allegations of abuse and of alleged abusers, involving the largest number of schools. RTÉ Investigates went looking for what the Christian Brothers owned in the 35 years since abuse scandals became public knowledge, from 1990 to date. Through in-depth searches, cross-referencing and analysis, from memorials of old property deeds to registered property, to planning files and company records, to newspaper archives and historical records and maps, a database of Christian Brother properties was built. It established that since 1990, the Christian Brothers has had a total portfolio of over 800 properties. Senior Brothers acting as trustees, held, sold, or transferred the 800 properties on behalf of the congregation. The Christian Brothers still owns at least 270 properties, while the trustees sold or transferred some 530 more. RTÉ Investigates revealed that two senior Brothers, in the leadership of the congregation over the space of two decades, and part of a group of leading Brothers that managed its assets and property portfolio, are now convicted child sexual abusers. A charity since its formation by a Waterford businessman, Edmund Rice, in 1802, today the Congregation of Christian Brothers' European assets are held in registered charities in Ireland, Northern Ireland and England - each of the three charities being subject to canon law as well as civil law. The congregation is known as the Christian Brothers in Ireland and as 'the Irish Christian Brothers' in some other countries abroad. Its traditional black cassock and white collar was clerical garb. However, the Christian Brothers are not clerics, but a community or 'congregation' of Catholic lay men, who swore vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to their superiors. Their superiors, in turn, report to the Vatican, through a committee of Cardinals in Rome. In recent years, the typical attire of Christian Brother members has been a business suit and tie. In 2008, the Christian Brothers announced it was transferring a significant part of its portfolio, 96 schools, then professionally valued for the Brothers at €427m, to a new trust it established, the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST). ERST, through a separate canonical entity, Edmund Rice Schools Trust Foundation, is also subject to canon as well as civil law. ERST's own accounts, from its incorporation up to its last filed financial statements to the end of August 2024 show the Christian Brothers transferred a total of €112m worth of school land to it, a quarter of the initial value. The Christian Brothers blame the property crash for the huge difference in value, but while by this year most school premises have been transferred, RTÉ Investigates has established that the Brothers held on to significant lands around the school premises, including school playing fields and ground used by pupils and local communities, and the sites of former residences for its teaching Brothers. As a lot of the properties and their boundaries fall on unregistered land, it is difficult for parents and members of the public to know where school premises end, and Christian Brother property begins. A well-known public example is the unregistered land around Clonkeen College in Deansgrange. That's after a controversial contract-for-sale in which the Christian Brothers were to sell off a significant portion of its lands and sports fields at Clonkeen to a developer to build 299 apartments and duplexes. In that case too, in addition to land, the putative sale included the former residence of the Christian Brothers who taught at the school, a building that is now the headquarters of the Brothers' educational trust, ERST. Completion of the contract for sale was contingent on the grant of planning permission for the development. In August 2019, a fence was erected that marked out the part of the lands to be sold. The fence denied access from then on for sports use by the school or the local community. In 2021, An Bord Pleanála approved the development, but following legal challenges, including by local residents, last year the High Court quashed that approval, finding that An Bord Pleanála had erred in how it interpreted the application of planning policies to lands in institutional use. The Christian Brothers confirmed to RTÉ Investigates that the sale of lands beside the playing field in Clonkeen has not been completed and no monies were received from the developer. It pointed out that its promised voluntary pledges to redress has been paid in full. That amounted to €30m and was paid off in instalments by 2019. The congregation remains the owner of the Clonkeen lands, and over seven years after the contract for sale was entered into, Clonkeen students are left with a pitch that is not full size, while the fence that separates the pitch from the Christian Brother land remains, still keeping school students out. Dr James Gallen, of the School of Law, DCU, said that though playing fields "clearly were intended to be used for the provision of public education, for sports and so on, the Christian Brothers were a private actor involved in providing a public service", and as such, knew that the fields could be rezoned and used for property development, and "could be more lucrative". Indeed, a year before it announced it was transferring its schools to its trust, ERST, a meeting of the Christian Brothers' leadership decided to retain the proceeds of sales of school playing fields that it owned. Among the leaders making that decision was the now-convicted child abuser, Brother Martin O'Flaherty. However, after the Ryan Report forced religious orders back to the negotiating table for a second voluntary redress deal in 2009, the Christian Brothers promised to transfer €127m worth of playing fields to ERST. That did not happen. ERST's own accounts up to the end of August 2024 show the Christian Brothers only transferred a little over €25m worth since, starting the transfers in 2020. Back in 2009, in its offer letter for the second redress deal with the State, the congregation's then Province leader, Kevin Mullan, wrote: "These sporting amenities are integral to the lives of 37,000 students and thousands of young people in local communities around Ireland". It continues to allow access to schoolchildren to the vast majority of those playing fields, and in a statement in advance of the broadcast of 'Christian Brothers: The Assets, The Abusers' by RTÉ Investigates, the Christian Brothers said ERST's now 39,000 students have "the full and continuing benefit of use of all these playing fields whilst conveyancing completes". Its statement said that its transfer of ownership of the fields was half complete. "The transfer of playing fields independently valued prior to the global financial crash is almost 50% complete with ERST," it said. However, after the broadcast, figures given to RTÉ Investigates by the Department of Education show the Christian Brothers transferred just 16 school playing fields to ERST since the 2009 redress deal in which it promised to transfer all of them. The Department of Education figures mean that just a third of the originally promised 49 school playing fields have been transferred, with two-thirds still owned by the Congregation of Christian Brothers. ERST and its 96 schools have use of those not transferred under a short-term licence only. ERST told RTÉ Investigates it was independent of and legally separate to the Congregation of Christian Brothers. Asked how many playing fields had not been transferred to it, ERST said the playing fields were "being transferred in order of priority". "Any time playing fields are required for school development steps to transfer them to ERST are immediately taken", it said. However, since the 2009 agreement, the Congregation of Christian Brothers has held out with the Department of Education - at one stage withdrawing its pledge to transfer. Then, in a later agreement reached eight years ago, the congregation promised to transfer the playing fields to ERST under an arrangement whereby the Government is to get half the net proceeds of any playing fields ERST might sell in the future. Even if it were in the public interest for playing fields to be sold by it in the future, ERST has to own them first. But there are more worrying signs that the public cannot take for granted the future of what many take for granted as educational lands. RTÉ Investigates uncovered a pattern of contracts for sale between the Christian Brothers and developers on school and institutional lands across Dublin. As with the contract for sale that the Brothers agreed for the lands at Clonkeen College, under such agreements, the Christian Brothers stand to get higher prices for its property if developers get planning permission in place. School and educational land is being lost, with commercial deals limiting future options and development for those schools. At the grounds of St Vincent's primary and secondary schools in Finglas, the Christian Brothers entered a contract for sale with developers to demolish a school swimming pool built in the 1960s and replace it with infill housing. The former swimming pool remained in the ownership of the Christian Brothers after it transferred the schools' premises to ERST, as did playing fields behind the schools. Within a year of the schools' transfer to ERST, the swimming pool was closed. In 2019, an application was submitted for replacement of the then derelict pool with housing. Planners saw the site as "not within the direct control of school management and entirely independent from the existing community/institutional uses on the Z15 zoned lands" (Z15 lands are for 'community and social infrastructure'). Permission was granted and the development went ahead. Robin Mandal described the Christian Brothers' approach to institutional lands as one of "sweating its assets" by selling them, and "squeezing its assets" by maximising the residential value of the land it has sold. "That uplift in value on a very small part of the site is quite substantial," he noted, "but that swimming pool site is on quite an important corner, and it now basically restricts the school quite substantially." Fergus Finlay of the Christine Buckley Centre for survivors believes institutional lands like St Vincent's, which was formerly the site of an orphanage run by the Christian Brothers, were run and maintained "through donations over many, many years by Irish families and Irish people" who believed in the social good of what the Christian Brothers was doing in its teaching mission. "Not a single one of these assets, not an inch of that land was given to the Christian Brothers for its wealth", he said. At Oatlands College, Stillorgan, in a joint venture with developers in 2013, the Brothers sold land at the bottom of its playing fields and a long access strip beside it. Residents objected to plans for an apartment complex, and parents objected to the loss of a playing area and land needed for the expansion of the primary school, right next to it. But in 2016, An Bord Pleanála approved it. The development of apartments and duplexes went ahead, squeezing the school beside it. "Oatlands is a very good example of how, having liquidated your asset, having got rid of some of your land, the remaining land is clearly not adequate for its use," Mr Mandal said. St Aidan's CBS on Collins Avenue, next to Dublin City University, recently got planning approval for an extension. It had little room for expansion. There was no space to the rear of the school, because the playing fields owned by the Christian Brothers are right behind it. The only expansion space on either side of the school was the site of a former Christian Brothers' residence. It was vacant, but in the application, the Christian Brothers was to keep its empty residence and its parking spaces. In planning application documents, the school architects noted: "As a result of ownership and right of way issues, the viable zone for situating new accommodation is more constrained than at first realised. Without additional demolition, the only viable location for a new building is to the front of the existing school, between it and the road". But RTÉ Investigates found that at the same time, the Christian Brothers had a contract for sale with a developer to demolish its residence and replace it with a six-storey block of student apartments. Planners rejected that idea, but the Brothers, as owners, now "fully support" another application from the developer for a five-to-six storey block of sheltered housing with an approved housing body, next to the approved school extension. The RTÉ Investigates examination of the Brothers' properties threw up many instances where the Christian Brothers' leaders acted to protect and enhance its property interests, with consequences for institutional lands used by schools or local communities. One such example is at a playing ground in Dolphin Park, Dublin. Under the 2002 redress deal, the Christian Brothers initially agreed to hand over three properties. The most valuable was at 23 Parnell Square North, the former home of Coláiste Mhuire, valued at €1.27m in 2002 and transferred to the OPW. The least valuable was a 0.1-hectare site in Crumlin valued at €250,000. It was transferred to Dublin City Council and is now a youth facility. But behind the small, corner site it transferred in Crumlin, the congregation retained the freehold for 5.5 hectares in Dolphin Park, where two playing pitches were used by local schools and clubs. A year after the corner site valued at €250,000 was transferred as a contribution to the cost of redress, in 2003 the Brothers gained €250,000 from the sale of a long leasehold to Dolphin Park to Templeogue and Synge St Past Pupils Gaelic Football Club, who it tasked with managing the sportsground. The leasehold was for 850 years. Normally, that would mean the Christian Brothers' ownership of the freehold to Dolphin Park would not matter much: the leaseholders are effective owners. But the Brothers attached a special condition to the sale of the leasehold. It stipulated that in the event of a sale of all or part of the 13 acres of land, the Christian Brothers would be entitled to 50% of any increase in value over the €250,000 price paid by the club in 2003. The special condition became relevant within years, when planning permission was granted for development on the site in 2006. The Celtic Tiger crash put a stop to those plans and in 2011, An Bord Pleanála refused an extension of time. But in 2019, the club holding the lease put in a fresh planning application for a new clubhouse and the development of 161 apartments and parking - covering one third of the site. Dublin City Council refused permission, but An Bord Pleanála approved it. Residents, and one of the clubs that traditionally held a right to use the pitches, Kevins GAA club, took court action. In 2022, the High Court quashed approval for the development, finding that An Bord Pleanála had not demonstrated any 'highly exceptional circumstances' in which selling off part of lands zoned open space/green for the commercial development of apartment blocks, was needed. In 2023, the former Christian Brother leader Edmund Garvey transferred the freehold ownership of Dolphin Park to the Brothers' trustee company, Christian Brothers CLG. Former RIAI president Robin Mandal said he was surprised at the size and extent of the portfolio in RTÉ Investigates' findings. "They're really important land banks for the future," he said. "They're important for education, they're important for social use, they're important for residential use." On such land banks in both Balheary near Swords on the northside, and in Bray, on the southside, the Christian Brothers has been making submissions to development plans with a view to maximising the future development potential of the lands. In Bray, where over three decades, it sold at least 23 hectares - including training schools, grand houses and private estates, small developments and detached houses, and land for local authority housing - it continues to have a significant holding. In a submission on its behalf to the latest Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan, it pitched for 1,050 residential units and a new residential and retail 'hub' on 25 hectares it owns in the Old Connaught area on the outskirts of Bray. In its statement to RTÉ Investigates, the Christian Brothers said that "beyond immediate care and living needs all of our resources are applied for charitable purposes and to meet existing and/or future obligations." It said that where property divestments occur, that converts the value to another asset, such as cash, or to reduce liabilities, all of which supports its capacity to meet its future obligations including existing and future claims. The Christian Brothers also maintains that its property portfolio is largely down to the donations of salaries by its members over decades. However, Mandal said: "These lands, while they are in the ownership of the congregation, are really there in trust from the community. They wouldn't be there if the community hadn't helped them put them together." "Somehow, they have turned into a series of land banks that seem to be driven by profit. Holding on to that much property looks to me like land speculation," he said. He said he believed the Christian Brothers' remaining portfolio is of huge importance to the future development of Irish towns and cities. On the charities register, the Christian Brothers still lists "formal mainstream education in support of schools and provision of playing fields" as its chief activity. It is not required to publish annual accounts for the charity that holds its assets, because statutory regulations prescribing how such financial statements are to be prepared for the Register of Charities were never enacted. A spokesperson for the Charities Regulator said it could not provide the financial statements of charities that are unincorporated bodies where they provide them to the Charities Regulator, "as happened in this case". "Currently, charities are not required to submit financial statements to the Charities Regulator under the Charities Act 2009 (the Act), as regulations prescribing how these financial statements were to be prepared were never enacted. Consequently, we are unable to provide such statements for inspection under section 54 of the Act," they said. The Christian Brothers' European Province for Ireland, Northern Ireland and England currently has 132 surviving members. Its Irish-based membership of around 108 Brothers is boosted only by Brothers returning home to retire from abroad. The majority are over 81 years old; a fifth are in nursing homes. It has no Brothers employed as teachers anymore, and dwindling numbers in active ministry of any kind. Its Provincial Leadership is largely dedicated to pastoral and practical supports for the care of its aging Brothers and managements of its asset portfolio. A senior leader in its English network, Br Dominic Sassi explained in 2020: "The work of the Province Leadership Team is partly administrative (finance, legal, property etc.,) and partly pastoral. The pastoral care of the Brothers is very important, especially as most of them are now quite elderly." The Christian Brothers said it has honoured its commitments under redress. It said it had "rightly acknowledged past abuses and sought to make reparation." "In addition to honouring our commitments under prior redress and our subsequent voluntary pledges, we have agreed a substantial number of settlements over the past two decades," it said. As a private property owner, the congregation has fully exercised its property rights, but the public, already footing a bill of €1.5bn for redress of institutional abuse, may consider school and institutional lands are neither fair game for commercial development, nor to fund religious orders' contributions to redress, nor for paying for the needs of an aging congregation that has alternative property assets to dispose of. Meanwhile, private property rights, protected under the constitution, and the absence of open availability and transparency in Irish property, company and charity records and rules, contribute to a dearth in awareness as to what is happening behind religious charity veils. In that context, two convicted child predators have been influential in determining the financial and legal strategies of a congregation that was the biggest single provider in Irish education and through the trust, ERST, has a continuing significant stake in the present and future of Irish education.
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
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘I couldn't believe the bravery': Abuse survivors pay tribute to Michael O'Brien and his ‘powerful' RTÉ testimony on child sex abuse
Michael O'Brien had the 'bravery and strength' to 'open the floodgates' about the sexual abuse thousands of Irish children suffered in church-run industrial schools and residential institutions. Survivors of sexual and physical abuse have paid tribute to Mr O'Brien, the sex abuse survivor and former lord mayor of Clonmel, who died this week . Mr O'Brien's raw testimony on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme in May 2009 outlining the abuse he suffered as a child sent shock waves around the country. Mr O'Brien confronted Noel Dempsey, then a government minister, 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. READ MORE Thousands of complaints were heard by the commission from former residents of predominantly Catholic institutions. Mr O'Brien described the adversarial treatment he received at the commission and said he tried to take his own life after spending five days being questioned. 'I burst out crying when I saw it in 2009; I couldn't believe the bravery,' said Clodagh Malone, abuse survivor and chairwoman of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors. 'At that time, you still weren't allowed to speak about the abuse. The church and State wanted to whitewash everything ... Michael catapulted us survivors to come forward. 'Everybody remembers that interview because it was so graphic, but that's what our abusers did. The floodgates were opened that night. People in Ireland prefer to say 'clerical abuse', but this was sexual abuse that takes away your body, your mind, your soul.' [ Michael O'Brien, former lord mayor of Clonmel who spoke on RTÉ programme of childhood abuse, has died ] Colm O'Gorman, founder of childhood sexual abuse support charity One in Four and former director of Amnesty International Ireland, said most Irish audiences had never heard a description of child sexual abuse 'in such a visceral way'. 'It was the fact that here was a Fianna Fáil man, a former mayor, cutting through all the bluster and excuses in a very uncompromising but incredibly courageous way,' he said. Watching the 2009 clip back, 'when we're now dealing with reports that religious orders are refusing to contribute to the cost of redress for survivors of mother and baby homes, you have to ask what has really changed,' Mr O'Gorman also said. Broadcaster John Bowman, who presented the RTÉ Questions and Answers programme, said Mr O'Brien's words had 'a greater impact than any other contribution from the audience in the history of the programme'. 'It was one of the most-watched moments in Irish TV history, it was the only time in 23 years that a panel applauded someone in the audience,' he said. Abuse survivor Maurice O'Connell said he 'curled up in a ball and broke down' after watching the programme. 'He expressed the anger and hurt so well. But even though it was powerful, nothing has changed,' he said. Mr O'Connell took part in a 2019 Government consultation that resulted in last year's Supports for Survivors of Residential Abuse Bill and provides a package of supports to abuse survivors, including an enhanced medical card and a once-off €3,000 support payment. Mr O'Connell said Mr O'Brien was 'disgusted' with the Bill's recommendations. 'Michael wanted what all survivors wanted: a HAA (Health Amendment Act) card, a pension scheme and housing.' Catherine Coffey O'Brien, who was born in a mother and baby home and whose mother and six uncles were 'incarcerated' in a psychiatric hospital, said Mr O'Brien took the 'first step in shedding light' on the abuse boys experienced in industrial schools. 'At the time he spoke it would have been unheard of for a man to speak about sexual abuse, it showed bravery and strength. The sad thing is, this narrative of history has been sanitised over the years,' she said. 'How many of us have to speak out before its actually acknowledged that we lived through this and, in some cases, like my own family, generations of family lived this. A part of this archive has died with Michael.' Mr O'Brien's intervention was a 'poignant moment in Irish history' that brought 'solace to survivors,' said John Kelly, founder of campaign group Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (Soca). 'He stopped the Government in its tracks when it was ignoring us,' he said. Mr Kelly recalled how Mr O'Brien contacted him after taking part in the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. 'He phoned me a few days later and told me how the religious organisations called him a liar. He said he then realised none of those responsible would face justice. He told me, 'I was encouraged to open up my wounds and yet I'm left with all these scars to fester'. 'He was right. All we got was an inquiry and some money. But that's what our abusers did to us: they abused us, gave us money and then told us to go away.' Sixteen years on from Mr O'Brien's contribution on RTÉ, Mr Kelly lamented that little had changed. 'If we look at the 'Grace' case from last week, can we guarantee children's safety and security?' he asked. 'There will be two great men going through the pearly gates this weekend. The Pope may not have done enough, but he admitted they made faults. He did more than the Government. 'Hopefully, he and Michael will go hand-in-hand through the pearly gates.' Mr O'Brien is predeceased by his wife Mary and survived by his family Geraldine, Peter, Martin and Catriona. His funeral will take place on Thursday at St Mary's Church in Irishtown, Co Tipperary.
