Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)

I did not name anybody. I am well aware of that. I thank the Acting Chair. The case about the schoolteacher is well documented. What I am trying to raise here, as the individual asked me to do, is to find out what recourse this person and others have right now. We have learned nothing from the mother and baby home scandal. What can I tell this individual? Somebody is going to tell me that it is a legal issue. Scouting Ireland is being paid taxpayers' money. For starters, I would like to know how much it has spent defending the indefensible. How much has it paid out in legal costs, again trying to bury what has happened?

In 1982 The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" was No. 1. I was not thrown out of the school for standing up, but they said to me that they would much prefer if I did not come back after the Easter holidays. I am speaking from personal experience. I knew this individual. He was a nasty individual. I am not here for kudos for me. What I am trying to get is information on behalf of those who are still alive, and still brave enough to talk up, who are being stone-walled left, right and centre. Scouting Ireland has been deplorable, absolutely diabolical. It has spent more time, energy and money trying to bury this when the person got ten years in jail for it. Scouting Ireland is not doing what it is supposed to do, which is to look after those who were interfered with by this teacher. Where do I go?

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