Annie Hoey (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Fine Gael Group for bringing this motion to the House. It is incredibly important and incredibly timely. As the House will be aware, there had been quite a long delay in the publishing of Dr. Geoffrey Shannon's report into the mishandling. I use the word "mishandling" somewhat lightly. It was an egregious series of deliberate, conscious decisions made to block access to justice and truth coming out within St. John Ambulance but it has finally been published. It highlights the level of historical child sex abuse in St. John Ambulance and how the structure of the place failed to address or prevent further abuse.

I have said and will say again that my heart is so heavy for Mr. Mick Finnegan and all of the brave survivors who never should have been made wait so long for this report or for their truth to be believed. I hope that this report and their rightful vindication goes some way towards their healing but we know that it, of course, will not.

I am horrified, although not in any way surprised, that St. John Ambulance put its reputation ahead of any basic child protection. It must be so awful for the survivors to read - it was a lengthy report but there is a huge amount of media coverage of it - how their truth and experiences were put secondary to the reputation of the organisation. That was horrific.

The report states that the culture in St. John Ambulance poses an ongoing threat to current child protection. That is very worrying. Every Senator in here is talking about that today.

The independent investigation also concludes that St. John Ambulance does not have a finalised child protection policy. There has been further follow-up on that, and the organisation saying otherwise, but that is what the report says. That is what Dr. Shannon has reported. There are still many questions here.

The review also finds that St. John Ambulance's current Garda vetting system remains incomplete, thereby creating the potential for unvetted individuals to gain access to children. Given that there has been such a focus on the organisation, particularly over the past two years, it is inconceivable that this is the current state of play and that, even within the two years this has been rumbling on in the public psyche, they did not get their house in order. That smacks of overconfidence in the internal workings of the organisation.

Even today, there remains a hierarchical and quasi-military-like structure which facilitated and insulated past abusive behaviour. The report correctly indicates that this structure is in no way healthy or appropriate for a decent or functioning child protection safeguarding culture. The report notes:

... [St. John Ambulance Ireland] SJAI should be honest about how its structures facilitated grooming and predatory behaviour. Warnings were ignored and not taken sufficiently seriously in the past, nor were reports made to the appropriate authorities. The failure to investigate known threats to the safety of children in the past was part of the broader weak accountability mechanisms within SJAI. The disciplinary structures within SJAI were not used when a threat presented itself. There was a failure to investigate, with excuses made about the degree of information available. This represented an ethical failure, where children's safety and welfare were at stake. ... A culture that did not investigate these suspicions also found it too easy to dismiss the gravity of allegations, and from there to deny or minimise that there was any wrongdoing within the organisation.

The commissioner said that the culture that allowed such abuse is no longer present within the organisation but the report draws questions around that and whether that culture still remains. In light of the steadfastness of some of the response to this - accepting responsibility and making a full apology but then saying that some of the report is not accurate or these things are not quite right - I suggest that either they accept full responsibility and take the full laying of the report or they do not. If they do not, it demonstrates that the culture is still present. As I said, that hierarchical and quasi-military-like structure seems to remain within the organisation.

The report states that St. John Ambulance:

...must ensure that all appropriate measures are in place to ensure the safety and well-being of cadets in its care at all time. ... [This includes] appropriate rules regarding supervision and management, in particular when cadets are taking part in any offsite ... or overnight stays.

These recommendations from the report are the bare minimum. There has to be complete ownership of all failings and the current resistance to change, as referenced in the report, has to be fully interrogated and eliminated.

This should never have happened. At the first instance, child abuse protection should have kicked in and every support should have been provided. The years of cover-up and willful ignoring of this abuse make me sick to my stomach. The board has offered an unreserved apology to survivors of abuse and has committed to a refreshed board to be constituted later this year but I, like many others, am not entirely sure that the board, even in a reconstituted or refreshed form, is suitable. The findings are so severe and so damning that I reasonably believe the whole board should probably not continue.

I support all the points that are called for in this motion. I support an urgent investigation into child protection oversight within Tusla - I have not even got around to that part - along with an urgent statutory review of the powers of Tusla and the adequacy of the Children First Act to address the very serious shortcomings demonstrated in the report. The review of the mandatory reporting obligations should be extended to ensure that criminal sanctions are imposed where there is a failure to act. There should be a review of the number of organisations and individual organisations which have been prosecuted for the withholding of information, and if none have been, a review of the legislation on the adequacy and application must be taken.

I am running out of time and I have one last point. There should be an immediate meeting between the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and any survivors of St. John Ambulance who may wish to attend to hear their concerns about the inadequacy of the State's response to this experience.

I stand with the survivors, not only of the abuse but also of the gross negligence of St. John Ambulance and the wilful abandonment of any basic decency as regards child protection measures. They deserved more as vulnerable children and as adults when they were simply seeking for their truth to be believed.