Seanad debates

Thursday, 12 December 2013

10:50 am

Photo of Susan O'KeeffeSusan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I take the opportunity to acknowledge the work of the National Board for Safeguarding in the Catholic Church and the reports it produced this week. There is clear evidence that some progress has been made and some of the orders concerned have made progress in terms of listening to persons' allegations. Of course, the concerns are two fold. The first is the low rate of conviction for those who may have been involved in abuse. Second, we now have put figures on the number abused. My worry is that in so doing, we forget the numbers of people who were never able to come forward whose lives were blighted by being abused as children and who never had anyone to turn to. By quantifying it in this way, while it is welcome, on the one hand, as a sort of audit, I trust that it will not fix in people's heads that such was the only level of abuse. There were many others. Part of our history and part of who we are relates to the number of people who could not come forward.

While I pay tribute to the board for the work that it has done, there is still a significant amount of work to be done in order to keep those measures going, to keep that control going and to find ways - that is the big question - of having a higher rate of convictions for this crime. I thank the board for its work. I hope that much work will continue to be done and that this is not seen as an opportunity to draw a line under what has been a sad, long-term and horrific part of our history.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.