Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Teach and compliment him on the discharge of his brief. He is one of the brighter young people to join the ranks of the Ministers of State. While I do not wish to be patronising, the truth is the truth.

This item on the clár of Seanad Éireann gives me absolutely no pleasure. At the outset, I wish to note that I am a committed Roman Catholic. However, as a parent and as a public representative, I must express my revulsion at the findings of this report. I have been in public life for more than 30 years but never thought I would be obliged to make the utterances I am about to make. One sad result about this is that so many good priests, nuns, brothers and religious will be tarnished. People will state cruelly that they all are the same, which is not the case.

I will turn to the nub of the problem that confronts Members. I compliment Ms Justice Murphy on compiling this report. It details some outrageous accounts of abuse of the most vulnerable people, namely, innocent children. I refer to children who have had their childhood robbed of them and with whom I have been obliged to deal in my capacity as a psychiatric nurse. I recall one particular occasion in the female admission ward of St. Loman's Hospital, Mullingar, when I heard a female patient giving a graphic account of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father. I also recall a teacher in a school I know very well who was found to be an abuser. However, that teacher was transferred to a school in Dublin in an area that was considered to be rough. The problem was not dealt with as this constituted a transfer of the problem rather than an interaction with it. In other words, the problem simply was moved on. This is what makes this report and others so damning. It affects people, irrespective of their status, and examples have been found in recent years concerning doctors, teachers, nurses, brothers, priests and nuns. In this case, it pertains to the clergy.

An investigation should be carried out in every diocese and in every parish, if necessary, for the benefit of abuse survivors. While I could say much about the status of survival in some cases, professional etiquette precludes me from so doing. I refer to any abused individual in any diocese or parish, the abuse of whom has not come to light. It would be a grave injustice to such a person not to make an effort to discover such abuse and to deal with the abuser, even in retrospect, because that is the only way one can bring closure to these people that is relevant to the abuse they suffered. Questions have been asked about the north-eastern part of our island which, regrettably, is not under the jurisdiction of the Government. I believe that every diocese on the island of Ireland must undergo a full and thorough investigation on the same lines as that which resulted in the Murphy report.

What makes this problem so repulsive is the conspiracy of silence. As for bishops who may not have carried out their duties in an appropriate manner or who may have hidden behind the concept of canon law, there can be no hiding place for an abuser, clerical or otherwise. They must be rooted out and dealt with, if only to bring closure to the abused and for the good priests, brothers and nuns, many of whom I know and of whom I have pleasant memories. During my days at St Mary's College, Mullingar, a wrong hand was never put on me. I thank the community of Christian Brothers at St Mary's College, Mullingar. While an individual there rightfully was named and shamed, in the main I can only say the best of my experience of the brothers, priests and nuns with whom I have come in contact. Members owe it to those good people to expose the wrongdoers. The bishops who have not taken to task the individuals concerned have not simply failed the abused children but also have failed society and their church.

Everyone can point fingers and were I on the Opposition side of the House, perhaps I would be saying the same thing. However, abuse did not begin today or yesterday. Members now know it has been ongoing for years and, at long last, it will be dealt with, hopefully in an inclusive fashion. As the old saying goes, it is never too late to do the right thing. However, the buck has been passed in several sectors of society, including the Garda, the various Departments responsible, perhaps the Government and, as now has been proven conclusively, the church itself.

The single point I must make on this sordid saga is that trust has been betrayed massively. I refer to the trust of parents who committed their children to the care of clergy in respect of serving mass, attending boarding schools or whatever. Such trust has been betrayed and the childhood of all those who were abused has been robbed absolutely. Moreover, unlike Dick Turpin, the abusers did not wear a mask but were barefaced about it. As I noted at the outset, there can be no hiding place for such people. Nevertheless, I maintain that one also must strike a blow for the good priests, brothers and nuns because they are innocent parties in this regard. As I stated at the outset, I am a Catholic and proud to be so. It is the singer that is at fault, not the song.