Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like everyone else, I acknowledge Mick Finnegan, who is in the Chamber today. I know there are others who are watching and that, for many others, this is not something they will be able to watch, want to watch or participate in for a variety of their own reasons.

I am struck by the figures Senator Doherty called out. One hundred people have now come forward. Seven people came forward, and that was not deemed to be enough by the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP. We have spoken in this House before about a variety of issues. One person coming forward, giving testimony and speaking truth should be enough for them to be believed, to be taken seriously, to be listened to and for action to be taken. One person should be enough. There should not have had to be seven people coming forward, which was also not considered to be enough. There are possibly up to 100 people and possibly more coming forward. Is that the bar we are setting in Ireland, that we need 100 people to come forward for us to believe victims of abuse, child abuse and misuse of power? This is happening. We seem to have these conversations when we are trying to reflect on our past, to face it and to face what has happened to people in Irish history. When one person came forward, they were told they were wrong and that they were a liar. This is not just in relation to the St. John Ambulance. This is a relation to much of our very dark past, much of which is still buried. One person came forward, there were signs and they were pushed away. When another person came forward, they were considered to be collaborating with that person. It seems we need hundreds of people to have to come forward. It is a frightening indictment of what has gone on in our past, that we need critical masses of hundreds of people for all of these different things in order for the State machinations, if you will, of the past even to consider there is a realm of truth in what someone is saying.

I am struck every time we talk about these issues that we constantly need this critical mass, when one person’s stories, one person's life and one person's future being stolen away from them is enough and should be enough. I am so angry we had these systems in place and these protections in place by the State apparatus, by society and by people in power that said this one person, whoever they were and at whatever point, were just not enough. I am so frustrated this is coming up repeatedly.

I know many people have been working on this, but I want to commend a number of journalists who have covered this story and who gave time to it. They sensitively covered this story when it is a difficult story to cover and it is a difficult topic to write about. In particular, Jack Power has been covering this regularly and has been incredibly sensitive and thoughtful in how he has covered this. I recognise that, because sometimes these stories can be hard to push over the editorial line for a variety of reasons.

The report in question, which is still not yet published, was commissioned by the St. John Ambulance following revelations that several men had been sexually abused by a former senior figure in the organisation’s old Kilmainham division in Dublin in the 1990s. I will take a moment to read into the record some quotes from some of the people, if that would be okay with the House, following on from the investigation and the sensitive coverage that was given to it by some journalists. As I said, Mick Finnegan is here in the House and he is one of the first victims who came forward. In his own testimony he said:

“I lost so much coming forward, I lost the relationship with my family, nobody believed me. I ended up homeless... Even now I still struggle, all I wanted was support,” he said.

He has spent 24 years - more than half of his life - looking for St. John Ambulance to be held accountable. “This report wouldn’t have happened if the first survivors didn’t come out publicly and share our stories... We just want the truth,”.

Again, it is important to acknowledge that Mick was one of the first survivors who came out to seek this truth and he has been seeking truth and justice for a very long time. It is my understanding from having spoken to Mick and from having followed him online that this has often been a difficult and lonely road. I want to commend his tireless pursuit of truth and justice, not just for him but for other victims.

There are other quotes I will read out:

...an eighth alleged victim who came forward and who wished to remain anonymous was abused as a child by the former senior figure in the 1970s. “I was a lonely kid with no friends, to say I would have been vulnerable would have been putting it mildly,” he said.

He acknowledged that he was molested by a man in an ambulance during first aid duty at Mondello Park racing track. He said he was:

...13 years old and claimed the accused had supplied him with alcohol beforehand. He alleged the former senior figure had been accompanied by an "accomplice" during the incident, who had been a younger adult volunteer.

“I couldn’t go home and tell my parents... Kids weren’t listened to in those days,” ... “I buried it for over 40 years... I find I’ve been an observer in my own life, I’ve never been able to enjoy things,” he said.

Looking back now ...[he] said the accused’s inappropriate behaviour had been “blatant”. At the time it appeared local units were run as the “personal kingdoms” of senior officers, with little central oversight or accountability.

That tallies with much of what other Senators have said today.

We have spoken about how abusers had access to victims and there were references to whether this was a class issue and about who believed whom. The revelations this week of other areas show this is not necessarily a class issue. However, these abusers sought out vulnerable people who they knew perhaps would not be believed or listened to and who may have come from somewhere where they knew they did not have a circle around them and that no one was going to listen to them.

I want to reference again our own history of child abuse.I find it so hard to comprehend. In so many different sections of society, grown adults who were abused as children are now coming forward. I cannot comprehend how we let that happen. I read the quotes into the record, which I thought was important to do. I thank the Leader for tabling this cross-party motion. I am very happy to sign it on behalf of the Labour grouping. We reiterate the request that this report has to be published for Mick Finnegan, for those watching, for those who came forward and for those who will never ever be able to speak about the abuse or horrors that were perpetrated upon them. We owe them truth and dignity. We owe them a public inquiry. We cannot right the wrongs of the past, but we can certainly try to right the way going forward.