Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy Boyle for sharing time. I wish the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, well with the grave and serious task he faces. If, over the next year or so, he addresses the issues which have been raised in the Ferns Report, he will certainly "have done the State some service". I caution him not to restrict himself to the narrow but necessary confines of the Ferns Report and its recommendations, which comprise the tip of the iceberg in respect of this serious situation. I will not defend the case of the church because I accept that what happened was absolutely appalling. We should remember, however, that the exact same thing happened in many other organisations, such as the boy scouts and many sporting groups. I ask the Minister of State not to put all his energies into an examination of the church. He should look outside the box. When he introduces new legislative measures, he should ensure that they apply to every organisation.

During a debate about the Kilkenny incest case in the Seanad in July 1993, the then Minister for Health said "at that time the procedures which are now in place for the detection and investigation of sexual abuse had not been developed". Ten years on, we are discussing the abuse of many young people in the Ferns diocese. Many of the people in question were abused when they were teenagers, rather than when they were kids. They reported the abuse in the early part of this decade after Bishop Walsh established the Ferns Inquiry. Many of us who are speaking as part of this debate are in a comfort zone because a report has been published and recommendations have been made. When we have finished expressing our horror at the contents of the report and saying that it must not happen again, we can close the book in the knowledge that someone else is looking after the matter and we can move on to the next project.

I was very angry after I received a copy of the Ferns Report. I read the first 20 pages of it, skipped through the rest of it and read its recommendations this evening. I was not angry because of the contents of the report, but because I believe child abuse, which is the subject of the report, is still happening in this country this evening. I am sure that as I speak, some young child is being abused. He or she does not know what is happening to him or her. That abuse is being facilitated by our society's shortcomings, such as its failure to recognise and deal with this issue. The Seanad was told in 1993 that proper procedures were "in place", but it is obvious that was not the case.

I would like to refer to some aspects of the Ferns Report, such as its reference to the "powerlessness" of children. We all went to secondary school. I knew St. Peter's College in Wexford well — I played football against that school — and it always struck me as a normal school. It is troubling to think that students in the school, who were then aged 14, 15 or 16, were terrified because things were happening to them and they could not report it. The Ferns Report states that child sexual abuse may be committed by people of apparent charm, intelligence and high repute. It is obvious that paedophiles are not normal, but they are manipulative. People who abuse children are not those whom one might suspect as being engaged in such behaviour. It is possible for a paedophile to pass as an outstanding and righteous member of society. The report mentions that people who have a propensity to sexually abuse children are attracted to careers which give them easy access to children.

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