A number of high profile court cases in Ireland relating to child sexual abuse have underlined how deeply those involved in such crimes could cover their tracks and cultivate a public profile of being respectable members of society. The cases have arisen on both sides of the border.
Jeffrey Donaldson
Most prominent in media coverage, of course, has been the case of Jeffrey Donaldson. Arguably media coverage would have been even greater had the verdict not been announced on the same day that Keir Starmer announced he was resigning as PM, but it still made all the main UK news bulletins that day.
Donaldson’s profile as leader of a party upon which the Government relied for support in 2017, as well as his title as a knight of the realm and member of the Privy Council, inevitably meant there would be enormous coverage of his downfall, and compassion for the two victims that we are aware of.
Publicity surrounding other activities which, while not illegal, contrast greatly with his public stance on moral issues, has been an embarrassment for the DUP, and it seems likely that more will emerge.
Michael Shine
However, I want to refer also to two men in the Republic whose record of sexual abuse has been highlighted recently and to the decision of the Irish Government to set up a Commission of Investigation into the activities of the paedophile surgeon Michael Shine, who was based at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, from 1964-95 and also had a private practice: Govt agrees to investigation into paedophile Shine
These underline the fact that there are many male victims of sexual abuse, something often forgotten.
Shine was convicted in 2017 and 2019 of the sexual abuse of young boys. More than 400 survivors have been identified.
A listening exercise was facilitated by Mr Lorcan Staines, Senior Counsel.
In a statement, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll McNeill said her department will work on drafting the terms of reference for the inquiry.
“I want to acknowledge the bravery of the individuals who came forward to share their lived experience with the facilitator. It is clear that their experiences have shaped the report and its recommendations,” the minister said.
Bill Kenealy
Meanwhile, the Waterford News & Star has published a detailed report on the extent of the cover up in that city of the activities of the late Bill Kennealy, and how his political connections enabled him to get away for so long with them. He died recently in prison.
As Darragh Murphy sums it up: “Schools, sports clubs, senior clergy members, experienced politicians, parents, gardaí. They knew.”
The cover up about a man who came close to becoming Mayor of Waterford has led to an official apology to the victims by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, while Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly apologised on behalf of the force for how officers had handlled complaints.
Seamus O’Callaghan
However, Waterford was far from unique in this regard. We recently read of the conviction of Franciscan Brother Seamus O’Callaghan for abuse of a boy in an Offaly school. This wasn’t his first conviction for such matters, as he was also jailed over 20 years ago for similar offences.
Given that he is now 82, the likelihood must be that he will die in prison. While he is understood to be the first serving Franciscan from the Clara community to be jailed, a number of former members of the order who served there have served time in prison.
It’s understood that another confessed to officers on his deathbed, when it was obviously too late to prosecute.
Watch out for the brother
It was common knowledge in Clara down the years that young boys were told to ‘Watch out for Brother such-and-such” and yet nothing was done about it until the first court cases took place in the 1990s.
In that regard, it’s notable that the scoping inquiry into abuse in Irish schools found no fewer than 11 cases at St Anthony’s College, Clara (which closed down over 30 years ago) , involving seven different abusers. By contrast, there was only one case each in the Christian Brothers’ primary and secondary schools in Tullamore, of which I am a past pupil.
It’s not difficult to figure out the reason for the contrast – St Anthony’s was a boarding school and it was much easier for abusers to operate in such an environment than in a school where boys went home each afternoon to their parents.
Safeguarding concerns all sections of society
The publicity about the Donaldson case and the issues around safeguarding in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) has underlined that these cases are far from unique to the Catholic Church, as some had supposed. Safeguarding is clearly an issue that concerns all sections of society. However, if these cases prove anything, it’s that the Ireland of the 1970s and 1980s was far from being the good old days that some suggest. The level of ‘amnesia’ about these abuse cases is concerning, coming from people who talk as if children never faced any dangers until recent times. Whatever problems exist today, at least there is a greater openness to discuss child sexual abuse and its effects.
That aside, I do believe there is still not a sufficient awareness in society of how the abuse of boys has very different effects from that of girls and that is something that all the churches and society generally needs to look at, including whether it’s a factor in levels of male suicide.
If you are affected by any of the issues here discussed, there is help available:
In Ireland: SafeIreland.ie
In the North West of England: Rapecrisis.org.uk
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