Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for attending the debate. We were not in this Chamber when we last spoke about this issue, which was in October 2020. We had worked with Mr. Finnegan and other people who have been impacted by it. There are many other victims we know of but we also know there are many other victims of whom we are not aware. We must keep them in mind when discussing this issue. When I brought the matter to the House in 2020, the Minister promised to commission the report. I commend him on doing that work and especially on securing Dr. Shannon to head the review.

Initially, there were concerns around the independence of the process. I am sure it was not an easy task to secure Dr. Shannon, given that the board of St. John Ambulance was trying to manage how the whole thing was done. It was good to have Dr. Shannon oversee the review and I am confident in the report he has delivered, but it needs to be made public. There is no justice without truth and transparency. Not publishing the report is a continuation of hiding things away from public view. None of us wants to be part of that hiding away. We want to pull that back. A public inquiry is needed.

A certain individual seems to have been airbrushed out of a photograph, which seems like an easy task. Unfortunately, nobody who has been impacted by this man can airbrush away everything that has been taken from them, all the trauma and pain they are left with and all the mental health issues and hardships they have had to endure. That can never be airbrushed away. As we have seen, some people within the power structures of organisations think that by removing the problem and pretending an individual does not exist any more, things are somehow sorted. Wen I spoke out on behalf of people who were victims of abuse in St. John Ambulance, I did not anticipate being contacted by many others. At the time, I referred to a particular perpetrator but I subsequently got calls to my office from other people and had meetings with men in their 50s and 60s who where abused by other members of St. John Ambulance in other jurisdictions outside that of the perpetrator to whom I referred. This shows we need to widen the scope of the investigation.

I went to the Minister's office at that time because I was alarmed to learn that the particular perpetrator of whom I was aware had full access to local community services in Rialto.He had the confidence and trust of boards of management at the time, which was 20 to 30 years ago. They allowed him to lock up and to continue with his work when they went home. While he was there teaching people first aid, and we know how he did that - we know he used that to abuse people - he had full access to some of the most vulnerable communities in Rialto that were availing of drug services, youth services and St. Andrew's Hall. He had full access in terms of the zoo and football clubs, and that is just one individual. He seems to have been everywhere across those communities and to have had way too much access, so much so that he would pull up in the St. John ambulance outside St. Andrew's Hall and would have the bus there. There is so much more for us to uncover and to learn. We need to take it out of the grasp of the St. John Ambulance and use the Geoffrey Shannon report as a catalyst for a wider, State-led investigation. We know that will also be able to bring supports to people, because they need access to counselling.

Senator Boyhan referenced the HSE and other places, but some people really need to have their own advocacy and agency about where they choose to go.