Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach. The Minister is very welcome. I also thank the Cathaoirleach for facilitating this motion at very short notice which we greatly appreciate.

I am very mindful of the obligations of privilege and anything I say today or will say in the context of this matter is already in the public domain and is taken from Dr. Geoffrey Shannon’s report. I begin by giving the apologies of Senator Doherty, for whom another matter has arisen, and who has been an extraordinary supporter and campaigner along with the incredibly courageous Mick Finnegan, to whom I pay particular respect today because, for a very long time he was a very lone voice and quite isolated in this regard. We would not be here today and the progress would not have been made without that one individual having extraordinary courage. Around him are others who have courageously come forward. I also want to pay tribute to Jack Power of The Irish Timeswho was the first to report this issue.

The motion we have put before the House makes particular calls. We call for an urgent investigation into the child protection oversight within Tusla. There seems to be a disparity there between safeguarding policies and saying that these were adequate at one point and then saying, within a matter of weeks, that that organisation required a review. We are looking for a statutory review of the powers of Tusla and the adequacy of the Children First Act because there are very serious shortcomings addressed in Dr. Shannon’s report.

We are looking for an urgent review of the mandatory reporting obligations and how they are dealt with. There are criminal sanctions if one fails to report or leave a child open to neglect, or neglects one’s responsibility in child safeguarding. If one is aware of potential for abuse and fail to act on it, there are criminal sanctions which have been in place since 2006. We are calling for that review.

We are also looking for a review of how the DPP adjudicates cases. We are also looking for an immediate meeting between the Minister and the survivors from the St. John Ambulance, which is the scandal at the heart of this matter. We are looking for the provision of counselling, medical and legal supports outside of those which are allegedly being supplied by the St. John Ambulance.

Why are we doing all of these things? This falls into a couple of categories. First, we are all familiar with St. John Ambulance at sporting and social events in our State. Its source of funding is from charging organisations like the GAA, the FAI, the Irish Rugby Football Union and the St. Patrick’s festival for the presence of its volunteers at those events. That is how the organisation funds itself so it is very familiar to us.

Underneath that and within a particular social demographic, some people were warned that there was a risk of an individual abusing them and some people were left to be preyed upon by an individual again and again, by the same individuals from the same background and area. That is not all right. This organisation which we are all so familiar with allowed that to happen over decades and it then denied and denied.

It is now 2023 and as long ago as 2003, St. John Ambulance was able to airbrush that individual out of a photograph of its leadership. This organisation acknowledged 20 years ago that this was a problem person and yet it trundled along. One of the excuses cited in the report is that the organisation believed that to even investigate a manner, there had to be a criminal standard of proof.

There is then the whole handling of this report, the delay in its publication and how the organisation published it, on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, hoping that it would be buried in the news.On the day, it issued an apology which I have here. It states that the organisation believes the victims. It states:

Please be assured that you have been listened to and are believed. It is a great source of disappointment that this was not always the case.

The organisation that issued that apology to survivors is the same organisation that is suing them for defamation. The same organisation has issued proceedings against those very survivors. Where is the integrity in this so-called apology? There is none. That is a fact. The organisation cannot stand over its statement that it accepts everything in this damning report and its wholehearted apology while continuing to sue the people who are making the allegations. Those are the people who have suffered and are at the heart of this report. The organisation cannot do that. I want to point out that is what is going on. People are still being accused of lying, being imbalanced and having ulterior motives. We can contrast the public persona presented by the website of St. John Ambulance Ireland, which contains its apology and response to the report, and which gives the impression of transparency, with its activity behind closed doors. No one has resigned in St. John Ambulance Ireland. No one at the helm of that organisation has resigned nor is anyone signalling any intention to do so. Organisations such as the FAI, the GAA and the IRFU are still engaging St. John Ambulance Ireland despite the fact that the report states there are still risks and vetting is still not in place or properly overseen. In every way, those organisations that are engaging the services of that organisation are supporting the idea which is at the heart of the actions of St. John Ambulance Ireland, which is that the reputation of the organisation is more important than justice. Its reputation is more important than children's right to their bodily integrity and safeguarding and cherishing the optimism and idealism of youth and childhood. Shame on any organisation that engages St. John Ambulance Ireland while this situation remains ongoing. Shame on them until every single thing is implemented and the leadership of that organisation has resigned and left. We need to ensure we are doing that.

Publicly available minutes of meetings show that St. John Ambulance Ireland received a letter from Tusla which stated it had no concerns regarding the management of an allegation discussed, nor any concern about child abuses being systemic, nor any concern that there was any failure to act on the part of St. John Ambulance Ireland. Tusla gave the organisation a letter in September 2020 which was cited in meetings with the Minister. The letter was cited to anyone who wanted to hear about it. This report completely contradicts that letter, which raises a question about the criteria that Tusla uses when it issues letters such as this. Letters such as this can be used as fig leaves to cover the shame of an organisation and to prioritise reputational preservation over the rights of children and adults. The public makes assumptions about Tusla and its powers because - God bless us - there are many families who live in fear of letters from Tusla. An assumption is made when a letter is issued about an organisation. A letter was produced by Tusla and signed by its chief executive to the effect that St. John Ambulance Ireland was okay and safe. We have to open up that terrible misunderstanding. Clearly, the organisation is not okay or safe. The criteria used by Tusla may be wrong or it lacks the requisite powers. If it lacks the powers, when was that exposed? The responsibility for child welfare in this State was given to Tusla on 1 January 2014. Since then, has it asked about or noticed this misrepresentation of its power? When it puts out a letter that states an organisation is fine and its statement is in compliance, what does it mean? It is a piece of paper. It does not mean anything else. It means the piece of paper relating to safeguarding is all right but that does not mean the actions behind it are all right. Tusla does not appear to be able to find out about the actions going on behind the piece of paper and yet an organisation will tout the letter as being a mark of quality. It is a disgrace. We need a statutory review to examine the powers of Tusla and what happened here. It is not all right that St. John Ambulance Ireland used that letter from Tusla as a fig leaf. It is not all right that Tusla can make a statement that appears to imply a level of investigation and interrogation of systems that is not happening.