Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this important debate and I thank my party leader, Deputy Enda Kenny, for proposing that the House debate an agreed motion on the Ryan report and I welcome the fact that all parties supported that call.

The publication of the Ryan report represents something of a watershed for Irish society. For the thousands of victims over many decades it represents the first time that they heard the Irish nation speak with one voice to say, "we believe you". All of us agree that it should never have taken so long for that to happen but we welcome that it has belatedly happened. In my ten years in politics at local and national level I have met many victims of institutional abuse and abuse in day schools. Each person has bravely told a devastating and compelling account of how he or she was treated at the hands of those in whose care he or she was entrusted. Each person has had his or life affected in various ways; some people's lives have been shattered forever. An expert on bullying told an Oireachtas committee that it takes three generations for the effects of bullying to cease to have an effect on the family of the original victim. I am not an expert in this area but I can only question how many generations will continue to be affected by the appalling abuse perpetrated on innocent and mostly young lives.

The Ryan report, in examining abuse under its many different guises and headings, at last acknowledges our shameful past. The real tragedy is reflected in the fact that Mr. Justice Ryan mentioned that simple gestures of kindness were vividly recalled. Perhaps many of us can contrast this with childhoods filled with kindness where a tiny unkindness is what is remembered because it was so far from the norm. For many of these victims the kindness is remembered because it was something unexpected and totally out of the ordinary in their lives.

This report is a litany of horror and abuse - physical, emotional, sexual - neglect, constant hunger, cold and fear. All this terror was suffered simply because one was poor, one's mother died or one had committed some small misdemeanour.

The rules and regulations governing the use of corporal punishment were disregarded with the knowledge of the Department of Education. The harshness of the regime was inculcated into the culture of the schools by successive generations of brothers, priests and nuns and ignored by successive Department inspectors. For girls, corporal punishment was pervasive, severe, arbitrary and unpredictable. While the level varied among schools, almost all institutions used fear as punishment and as a means of discipline, and it was administered in a way calculated to increase the anguish and humiliation for girls.

The report's findings on sexual abuse make horrific reading. It is clear it was endemic in boys' institutions. While not endemic in girls' institutions the children were nonetheless subjected to predatory sex abuse by male employees, visitors and people in outside placements. What is most disturbing about the sexual abuse in boys' institutions is the fact that cases were managed not with a view to supporting the victim and punishing the perpetrator but to minimise the risk of public disclosure and save damage to the reputation of the institutions and congregations. In other words, they protected the perpetrator and their own institution at all costs. It is clear they knew sexual abuse was wrong because the report finds that when lay people were found to have sexually abused they were generally reported to the gardaí, yet when one of their own was found to be abusing, a different standard applied. It must be acknowledged that there is no excuse. Even then, sexual abuse, as it is now, was a criminal offence.

It seems the only real response by the congregations to sexual abuse was to move the offender to a new location which, far from being a punishment, simply provided him with a new group of children to terrorise. The documents prove they long understood the issue of recidivism. At all times the reputation of the congregation and the institution took precedence over the safety, welfare and dignity of children. In some cases - I will deal with this aspect later - offenders were not only transferred but were released from their vows and facilitated to work as lay teachers. They were permitted to take dispensation rather than be dismissed by the order.

Emotional abuse was clearly a way of life. There was no getting away from it, and it was bred into the institutions from the beginning. Chapter 15 on St. Conleth's reformatory school in Daingean proves that. Its establishment in Daingean caused considerable debate at the time because it involved moving more than 200 boys 60 miles to a building that the then Minister for Education described as "in such a bad state of repair it is very doubtful whether the present building can be brought up to a satisfactory standard". Concerns about the distances families would have to travel show clearly the lack of concern for the emotional development of children, with one priest contending that it would have the advantage of preventing undesirable visits and that parents would not mind travelling by buy from Dublin occasionally.

I raise a particular issue of concern to many victims and refer also to the Taoiseach's contribution earlier. Mr. Justice Ryan makes clear in his report that St. Conleth's was different from all the other institutions inquired into by the commission. It was a reformatory, and most of those in reformatories had been convicted by the courts of criminal offences. The premises were entirely unsuitable and the lack of any real education denied these young men basic opportunities. Minor offences that could otherwise have been dealt with resulted not only in being sent to a reformatory but in having almost every basic human right stolen.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is in the Chamber and he might be able to deal with that issue, but in his contribution earlier the Taoiseach stated that it is "now the law of the land, beyond any doubt, that no criminal record exists in such cases, nor in the case of those who were convicted and committed to a reformatory". I would have liked to see that fact reflected in the motion. The motion refers only to industrial schools, not reformatories, and I believe the Taoiseach's comments must be clarified to ensure that reformatories are included. No crime - serious or petty - deserved the life sentence inflicted on those children. The State must contact every person involved, and in cases where they have died, their family should be contacted and it should be given to them in writing that no criminal records exist.

The real horror of all this is the fact that it is not something in our ancient past but something that is up to date and shows the reaction of our religious congregations when they further perpetrated hurt and pain their predecessors had committed by failing to revisit the deal.

The original deal was bad for everyone - the taxpayer, the victims, the Government who made the deal and the orders who did not take the opportunity to face up to their responsibility and the shame of their past. The failure to respond adequately in 2002, and having to be forced by public opinion to respond now with a belated attempt at redress, is shameful. Like many others, my experience of many religious has been positive. I know many who are hurt deeply by the pain their colleagues have caused, but living up to that, meeting their obligations and paying the debt due to these victims now may in some way help to heal the pain for everyone involved.

I wish I could call the Ryan report the final chapter on abuse in Ireland. Only the victims have a right to say when the book is closed but for me it cannot be closed yet. This report deals with institutional abuse and, as Deputy Flanagan outlined, abuse in day schools but the redress board has not been permitted by the State to go down that road. That must be addressed. I made that point in 2003 when we debated changes to the relevant legislation. I tried on that occasion, and many times previously and since in the House, to convince the Government of the importance of giving the victims of day school the same opportunity as has been given to those in residential care but always met the argument about the State not being in loco parentis to children in schools. I fail to understand how the impact of rape or any type of abuse is in any way lessened because one goes home to one's own family afterwards.

Those children suffered just as despicable a violation of their innocence. They faced the same concrete wall of having no one to tell, a society that protected the abuser and not the victim, and living with the shame that they were too young to know. That should rest with the abuser and not with them. Until this chapter is written and these stories are not only told but acknowledged, we cannot fully learn from the past or try to move on.

I give an example that highlights the importance of dealing with this now, once and for all. Deputy Flanagan has dealt with this issue also. I refer to the case of Donal Dunne whom I have named in this House previously and see no reason not to name him now. He taught in Marino, Mullingar and James's Street, Dublin, as a Christian Brother until 1957. Following that he left the Christian Brothers and taught in Lanesboro, Ballyfermot, Rath, in Laois, and Walsh Island, in Offaly. He then taught at second level in Castlecomer in Kilkenny and in the Sacred Heart in Tullamore. The man was able to move freely from school to school even when allegations had been made. He was eventually convicted on sample charges. However, the background and his ability to move from place to place has only now been adequately investigated.

One of his victims sent a detailed letter of complaint to the then Minister for Education in 1982. In the same year Deputies Michael Keating and John Boland questioned the Government on this issue. Twenty-seven years on no redress or compensation has been made to any of the victims of Donal Dunne.

In 2003 I raised in Private Members' business in the Dáil the need to introduce a system for vetting, which I appreciate has been put in place but we have yet to deal with the issue of soft information, despite a recommendation from a committee. It is a fact that nothing had been proven against Donal Dunne at the time he was moving from school to school. There is the issue of the allegations having been made but even with those and the Garda investigations, unless we move on the issue of soft information that could happen again.

In reiterating our apology as a State and as citizens of the State, we must facilitate the writing of this final chapter. I urge the Government to allow that to happen. If we are ever to make Irish society a safe place for children, we must take a long, hard look at how we proceed. If we had proper vetting with soft information, a referendum on children's rights, a proper functioning social work service that operates on a 24 hour, seven days a week basis and not from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., a system that responds to special needs rather than putting them into pigeon holes, and a Department of Education and Science that has real responsibility for what happens in our schools, we might then be able to move on.

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