David Norris (Independent)

I do not think that comes as any great surprise to people in this House. I saw one of the "Reeling in the Years" programmes last year that was looking back approximately 25 years. I was then making a dignified but passionate plea to change the criminal law on homosexuality. Sitting behind me was a plump, smug, self-important priest who showered me with contempt and abuse. It was only last year after the events that took place that I realised who he was. Fellow Senators, that was Fr. Seán Fortune, who at that time was raping children in his own diocese of Ferns, but I was the outcast, not that man. If we really wish to be sincere, it is time to do something to stop more children being attacked.

There is a very good article by Justine McCarthy in a Sunday newspaper. She said: "They lied. They stole. They terrorised. They assaulted children. They manacled them." They sexually assaulted them. There is a catalogue of such actions. Who were "they"? The article continued:

Throughout it all, they — and the whole world — thought they were holy men and women.

Children were made to lie in bed at night with their arms piously crossed over their chests. When they slipped out of this position unconsciously in their sleep, they were woken up and beaten. Holy men came into the dormitories at night, sometimes two at a time, and put their private parts in the children's hands and in their mouths.

Was that not blasphemy?

On the issue of where the responsibility lies, I deny any responsibility. I spoke out, although it caused me pain as a teenager and adolescent. I continued to speak out. I have spoken out not just about the Roman Catholic authorities but about the whole situation of bullying because it is the principle that motivated me. I defy anyone to say I am anti-Catholic. I want this matter to be addressed. I am horrified by the approach of some people who should now be covered in shame. I refer to people such as Deputy Woods who thinks we should be glad the taxpayer is liable. Why? He says the State is responsible. He was negotiating on behalf of the State and yet he appeared to be more in the pockets of the church. In my opinion the victims were betrayed.

One or two people in the Judiciary, such as Judge McCarthy, was more sensitive to the needs of those people who were brought before him. What was the result? A member of the Government of the day, Mr. Gerry Boland, tried to have him sacked for being too lenient and easy. That is the kind of mentality of the person who wrote a letter to The Irish Times saying most of those people were thugs. A dignified 76 year old woman wrote back who was put into care at the age of two. She got a criminal record for being abandoned when she was two years old. That is appalling.

I appeal to the Minister of State, Deputy Moloney. I know it will be difficult, but he is a man of principle, integrity and courage and if he wants to avoid further damage in that clear area I have outlined, he should not allow what I saw not two years ago nor 20 years ago but last Saturday, when a brave young man stood up and said he was forced by the Christian Brothers to take down posters against homophobic bullying.