Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On 19 November, some 13 years after the publication of the Ryan report, the Taoiseach confirmed that a further inquiry will now be set up to examine allegations of abuse at one of the country's leading private schools, Blackrock College. The inquiry should cover other schools about which allegations have emerged in recent weeks. Complaints have been made about abuses in other Spiritan-run schools including St. Mary's College and St. Michael's College in Dublin, Rockwell College in Tipperary and many more schools around the country. It is crucial that the Government engage with victims' and survivors' views and ensure that the approach is victim-led.

Over the last two weeks, following the documentary broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 on 9 November, the pressure for an inquiry to be announced has been building. In that documentary, two brothers spoke of having been sexually abused by a priest at Blackrock College in the 1970s. I believe 233 people have now made allegations in this regard. There can be little doubt that, when deciding on the model of the proposed inquiry, the Government must show it has learned from the previous public inquiries into clerical child abuse in Ireland, which have often taken longer than anticipated. If we have learned anything from decades of cases of abuse carried out by predatory paedophiles it is that, as long as they could hide or were concealed, they posed a danger. It is crucial that all of those crimes are now acknowledged and that the facts are put on record so that such things cannot happen again. Whatever investigation takes place, it is essential that it does not impede inquiries being carried out by An Garda Síochána.

This hits home for everyone in this room, across the House and in all parties. It hits home when you see people who entrusted their children to a school only for them to abused by people they trusted. This is like déjà vuall over again. We have seen cover-ups in respect of the mother and baby homes and in respect of clerical abuse, including in these cases. These people have to be brought to justice. During Leaders' Questions today, I brought up the cover-ups in the HSE. Within our own hospitals, mistakes are being covered up and millions in taxpayers' money is being spent to hide things and silence staff rather than to tackle the issue at hand and protect vulnerable people, that is, the patients and staff within our hospital systems. This is my first term as a politician and it sickens me to see the bureaucracy that is in place. We are here as protectors of the people. We are seen as the protectors of Ireland and of everyone in it. Regardless of whether they are from the country or the city or whether they are of different nationalities, we are here as their protectors. It saddens me to see that, every time we try to do something to help, bureaucratic bull, legal measures and cover-ups are put in place and it takes years upon years before the people who have been abused can be dealt with.

That is also the fault of Government in trying to protect the coffers, the Catholic Church and those within the church who have done wrong. There are people within the Catholic Church who have done fantastic work but there are also people within it who have done serious wrong. We can see that here today. We can see it in everyone's faces as they talk about this. What we have seen can happen is cutting us in two. I would now like to see accountability and full transparency. I ask the churches and schools to fully disclose every bit of information they have to help the victims and to stop dragging it out for years while waiting for people to die, to commit suicide or to become mentally ill. It is now time to help the people who have been abused.

As I said earlier today, it is disheartening to see taxpayers' money being used to protect people who have done wrong, even within our hospital systems. People who have done wrong should put up their hands so that we can fix the problem to ensure it will not happen again. They should take accountability for their actions. Everyone can make a mistake. If you want to fix the mistake you have made, it can be fixed, but covering it up only shoves it down the road for decades, causing harm, mental health difficulties and serious injuries to people. I am delighted the Minister is at the helm. She is a good person. However, we need people to make full disclosures if we are to ensure that all victims of abuse are looked after and that the people who carried out the abuse are brought to justice swiftly, rather than being protected as part of efforts to protect property, funding or anything else. They have to be brought to justice now and there has to be accountability now. We need to get help for the people.

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