Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

Tá áiféal orm go bhfuil orainn déileáil le tuairisc dá leithéid seo. Is trua mór é gur loic iad siúd a bhí i suíomh údarásach thar na blianta ar an dualgas a bhí acu. I roinnt cásanna, thugadar tacaíocht dóibh siúd a bhí ag baint mí-úsáid ghránna as páistí. Rinneadar neamhaird ar, nó chabhraíodar leis an cover-up ar na coireanna i gcoinne na páistí.

The report of the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin exposes glaringly how the most powerful men in the Catholic church in the Dublin diocese conspired to protect abusers of children. Especially damning is the conclusion that the State authorities facilitated the cover-up and allowed the church to operate beyond the reach of normal law enforcement. Senior gardaí, up to and including the level of Commissioner, repeatedly turned a blind eye to crimes of clerical sexual abuse. They colluded in crime, in depraved sexual attacks and in an abuse of power and influence. They perverted the course of justice and protected the guilty. Like many others, I believe the paedophile priests and the bishops, archbishops and gardaí who protected them are culpable in the deaths by suicide of many abused children or later adults whose lives were destroyed by the paedophiles and their protectors. We are discussing children.

I am calling for an inquiry into each and every diocese. Child sexual abuse on the systematic scale of which we read in the harrowing report from Judge Yvonne Murphy was not just confined to the Dublin or Ferns dioceses, as we saw in the case of the harrowing Ferns report. Rather, the abuse was widespread and visited on children in every diocese. Society owes it to those children it failed to protect in the past to expose the wrongs done to them and to ensure that every step is taken to pursue the perpetrators of abuse and those who failed, or purposely refused, to carry out their duties to protect children. These crimes must be investigated and the criminals prosecuted.

The Murphy report describes the gross betrayal of generations of children by powerful people in clerical and State authorities. It is a reminder of the truth of the saying that "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". The hierarchical, male-dominated structure of the Catholic church has given bishops almost absolute power in their own dioceses. This has been a recipe for disaster over many years, especially for any child who has been a victim of abuse by clerics. The report puts it in very clear terms:

The Dublin Archdiocese's pre-occupations in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse, at least until the mid 1990s, were the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the Church, and the preservation of its assets. All other considerations, including the welfare of children and justice for victims, were subordinated to these priorities. The Archdiocese did not implement its own canon law rules and did its best to avoid any application of the law of the State.

The report makes it clear that bishops in Dublin ignored the church's own rules on abuse:

The authorities in the Archdiocese of Dublin and the religious orders who were dealing with complaints of child sexual abuse were all very well educated people. Many had qualifications in canon law and quite a few also had qualifications in civil law. This makes their claims of ignorance very difficult to accept. Child sexual abuse did not start in the 20th century.

The report strongly refutes the claim of the archdiocese and other church authorities that they were on a learning curve, prior to the late 1990s, in respect of the clerical abuse of children. This was a convenient date for such a claim because it was in 1994 that the extent of this abuse began to be realised by the public, when the Brendan Smyth case came to light. The learning curve claim is a lie because senior clerics as far back as Archbishop John Charles McQuaid in the 1950s, and almost certainly long before him, were well aware of these cases and were covering them up. This was a cover-up on a scale never before seen. The Murphy report shows the extent to which the perpetrators of child abuse and their masters were willing to go with the cover-up, the aim of which was "the protection of the reputation of the institution and the reputation of priests". Why should we believe this cover-up did not extend beyond Dublin? That it did extend beyond Dublin will be exposed by other reports of this nature, dealing with other dioceses.

Difficult questions must be asked about Church and General, which was the insurance company involved in this matter. What was the extent of its knowledge of the matter? Why were its files shredded? Will there be a Garda investigation into the role of this company? Will the Garda themselves be held accountable? The report tells us that a number of senior gardaí, including the Commissioner in 1960, regarded priests as outside the remit of the force. Essentially, gardaí bowed down to the hierarchy, at a terrible cost to those children whom the Garda, and the State in general, were supposed to protect. Anyone, including gardaí, who is found to be complicit in the cover-up of child sexual abuse must face the full rigours of the law.

The Government must take immediate steps in response to the Murphy report's finding that the existing legislation governing the role of the HSE in dealing with child sexual abuse is inadequate. There is a need to clarify that role. The report states that it is of great concern that "the HSE and the health boards have given the impression to Church authorities and the Gardaí that they can do more in the area than they actually have the power to do" and that "the health boards and the HSE do not properly record cases of clerical child sexual abuse". The Government must immediately rectify the major concern, as highlighted in the report, whereby "the Child Care Act 1991 does not sufficiently clarify the powers and duties of the health authorities".

The report states that over many years, there was little or no concern for the welfare of abused children or other children who might come into contact with abuser priests. All four archbishops in the period covered by the report - McQuaid, Ryan, McNamara and Connell - failed to report knowledge of child sexual abuse throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. As I read the disturbing accounts of abuse that are contained in the report, it galled me most that in many cases there was no sense of remorse, or of having done wrong. These abusers and their protectors lectured the public about morality and wrongdoing. These twisted perverts were given a signal by archbishops in Dublin over the years, in the form of the impunity or blind eye that was turned to the crime of raping children. The signal in question - carry on regardless - was given to all paedophiles in or out of the priesthood. It is shocking that the archdiocese took out insurance in 1987, such was the extent of its knowledge of child sexual abuse in the church and the potential financial cost of it. The report states:

The taking out of insurance was an act proving knowledge of child sexual abuse as a potential major cost to the Archdiocese and is inconsistent with the view that Archdiocesan officials were still 'on a learning curve' at a much later date, or were lacking in an appreciation of the phenomenon of clerical child sex abuse.

Like the Ryan report, this report must prompt the Government to act urgently to protect vulnerable children today.

The recent closure of the special care facility at Ballydowd raises major concern over child services in this State. This centre, which had been in existence for nine years, having cost €13 million to put in place, had to be closed because of its unsuitability for the troubled children who were held there. It is extremely worrying that the HSE presided over a facility that, as HIQA has said, did not have enough staff to run consistently and safely. How could this have been allowed to go on? The HIQA national children in care inspection report, which included a report on Ballydowd, is a severe indictment of the State's failure to protect children. It highlights serious deficits in standards aimed at safeguarding vulnerable children, including lapses in vetting procedures for staff and foster carers working with children. My party spokesperson on children, Deputy Ó Caoláin, and others have repeatedly raised these issues in questions to the Minister for Health and Children and at the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children.

We also have the scandal of children going missing from State care. A recent report from the Ombudsman for Children revealed that 454 children went missing from State care between 2000 and 2008. The children in question are foreign nationals who are in Ireland without a guardian. In many cases, they were not reported missing to the Garda. Of the nine hostels inspected in the report, just two were registered and seven were found to be unsuitable, unsafe and unclean. Children in some hostels were left overnight with little or no adult supervision. The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, and the Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, Deputy Barry Andrews, who has direct responsibility, must explain in detail how, yet again, children have been let down in this way by the State. They must act with urgency to bring the care of vulnerable children up to standard or else we will have more Ryan and Murphy reports in years to come, only this time they will cover the present era.

The woefully inadequate state of our child protection services has been repeatedly exposed. There are insufficient numbers of social workers and other front-line workers and not enough support systems in place. The HSE knows of cases where children are in grave danger but services are not in place to make the interventions required. Sadly, the nightmare of child abuse is not a thing of the past. It happens every day. Most of this abuse takes place in the family home. If the necessary services are not in place the State today will be just as culpable as it was in the past when it conspired with the church to cover up the abuse of children.

A whole range of measures must be taken in the light of the Murphy report but also in light of the Ryan, Ferns and Monageer reports and the recent HIQA report I mentioned. These measures include the updating of legislation and clarification of the role of the HSE with regard to protection of child from abuse; a full 24-hour on-call social work service for vulnerable children and families; and the delivery of the promised referendum to strengthen children's rights in the Constitution.

The State must address the need for truth and justice and recompense those abused in institutions, both residential and non-residential, not covered by the Ryan report, including Finglas Children's Centre, Scoil Ard Mhuire in Lusk, Trinity House, Trudder House and Madonna House, as well as the Magdalen laundries and institutions established after 1970. There must be a commission of investigation or other form of credible inquiry to investigate all matters relating to the conduct of Michael Shine in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. There must be implementation of the Ombudsman for Children's call for a child death review mechanism, in light of the deaths of at least 20 children in State care during the past decade, deaths which are now the subject of an internal HSE inquiry.

We have heard calls for the resignation of those bishops found culpable in the Murphy report. I support those calls. However, much more important is the need to reform the way our education system is managed. These bishops and others are so-called patrons of schools which are funded by the State. Many parents nowadays have their children baptised primarily to ensure that they can get into primary schools in their locality where Catholic church baptismal certificates are required. This is a disgrace in this age and in this State and highlights the need to complete the separation of church and State, especially in education.

The State pays for education through capitation grants, teachers' salaries and other funding but the vast majority of primary and secondary schools are not under democratic control. They are predominantly under the patronage of Catholic bishops and in the ownership of the Catholic church. This is a legacy of the era of Catholic church power and control that allowed the abuse highlighted in this harrowing report to happen. We must move to a democratically controlled education system that is truly representative of the community and respectful of the rights of people of all religions and none, a system that is truly totally child-centred.

I return to some aspects of the report. The report is available publicly but it is a pity we do not have the opportunity to transfer the full report into the record to show the world the full extent of the disgraceful carry-on that happened in this city. I do not refer to the actions of the perpetrators because words fail me with regard to the abuse, pervertedness and shame they brought on their church but to the failure of the State authorities and the bosses of the paedophile priests, the bishops and archbishops to protect children. Children are supposed to be key to the Catholic church and this State but the institutions of the State and the church let them down at every turn. This is a report about Dublin. What about the reports to come from other dioceses? That must be investigated.

When we dealt with the Morris report into Garda corruption in County Donegal, I stated that a report into the abuse of power by the Garda Síochána was needed, not only in County Donegal but in other Garda divisions. The same situation is replicated here. I believe the systematic abuse of children by paedophile priests did not confine itself to Ferns, to these institutions or to Dublin but happened in every diocese. That fact can be reflected when people read this report and remember the priests who were moved out of Dublin.

In the minute remaining to me, I shall deal briefly with the section on the Garda. The report states:

There were a number of inappropriate contacts between the Gardaí and the Archdiocese. Clearly the handing over of the Fr Edmondus case to Archbishop McQuaid by Commissioner Costigan was totally inappropriate. The relationship between some senior Gardaí and some priests and bishops was also inappropriate – in particular, in the Fr Carney and Fr [blank] - cases.

A number of very senior members of the Gardaí, including the Commissioner in 1960, clearly regarded priests as being outside their remit. There are some examples of Gardaí actually reporting complaints to the Archdiocese instead of investigating them.

These gardaí were supposed to be officers of this State but they clearly and totally failed their duties in that regard. If any of them are still alive we must ensure they are charged with that and perhaps stripped of any pension or other rights that went with that period. They failed absolutely the children in their care.

I do not have enough time to continue but I thank Ms Justice Yvonne Murphy for this detailed report. It is harrowing but should be read by anyone who is involved in child services in any shape or form.

See this speech in context