Best redress would be the immediate removal of all religious orders from our schools
My uncle, Ben, had a learning disability. He came to live with my family when we were kids and he was in his 30s, after my grandmother died.
He continued to live with my mother until she became too frail and so spent his last decade or so in the excellent care of the HSE. Ben was a gentle soul who never went to school. I am assuming that there were no schools for people like Ben back in the 1930s and ’40s.
But yesterday we learnt that the Scoping Inquiry by the Government into allegations of historical sexual abuse in schools in this country, included 590 allegations of such abuse involving 190 alleged abusers in 17 institutions which were termed special education schools.
Just let that sink in. That children with special educational needs would be seen as receptacles for sick men’s sexual deviancy is beyond comprehension.
That those who were the alleged abusers were also members of a religious order takes this horror to a level that is, well, I don’t have words for the depravity.
This has been a brutal and bruising few days in Ireland. Last week I wrote about the anger and upset that many of us, especially women, felt after watching the RTÉ documentary Stolen, about mother and baby homes. Now we are confronted with this government report which illuminates another horrific chapter in our nation’s recent history.
In total, this inquiry has recorded 2,395 allegations of sexual abuse at 308 schools run by religious orders. There are allegations against 884 alleged abusers. Bear in mind that the Republic of Ireland in the mid1970s, when the incidents of abuse peaked (according to this report), had a population of just over three million. The numbers are quite staggering.
At a press conference yesterday, Education Minister Norma Foley said: “The survivors were very clear that they have lived with the experience all of their lives.” She went on to say “it was a destructive influence on their relationships… it’s quite horrific, the long-term impact that this has had on people’s lives”.
Accounts given by survivors speak of difficulty with relationships, physical and mental health issues and addiction, among others.
The legacy of such sickening abuse has long tentacles that reach out to affect the victims’ spouses, their children and their parents.
I can only imagine how unbearably difficult it must have been for many of these victims to tell their now very elderly parents of their childhood sexual abuse at the hands of the very people in whom their parents had placed their trust and their most precious children.
It looks likely that the Government will now instigate a full statutory inquiry into historical sexual abuse and it is beyond doubt that we will continue to be shocked and sickened by the results.
It is always important that victims have their voices and their stories heard. But redress is also important, even though it seems a somewhat tawdry way to try to ease the pain of those who have suffered so much and for so long.
Just like the victims of mother and baby homes, we must never, ever forget what was done to generations of children at the hands of socalled men and women of God. They not only have left a horrendous legacy of their time running schools and institutions, but their sordid
‘We must never, ever forget what was done to generations of children at the hands of so-called men and women of God’
actions have completely obscured the good work by many nuns and priests and brothers.
The question we need to ask ourselves, as a country, and that we need to ask of our politicians, is why are religious orders still involved in our education system?
The best redress for Ireland as a country would be the removal of all religious orders from our schools immediately.
Those who are innocent of any crimes can retire in quiet contemplation and pray for forgiveness for their brothers and sisters.
When my uncle Ben died, over a year ago, he left behind a community of broken-hearted friends – all elderly and with special needs. They came to his funeral and sang his favourite song – You Are My Sunshine. I can only hope that none of them went to school either.