tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506803982752146525.post5618280567916190516..comments2024-03-25T20:17:29.106+00:00Comments on Careful With That Axe, Eugene: The Ryan Report on Child AbuseDr Eugene O'Loughlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12862889013218798392noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5506803982752146525.post-28005999950843551052009-06-11T16:25:15.705+01:002009-06-11T16:25:15.705+01:00We owe it to the victims of the congregations and ...We owe it to the victims of the congregations and to ourselves, as a modern, secular state to close down and disband the groups shown to have committed abuses in the Ryan report on child abuse. Our inaction and dithering on this subject is similar to what previous administrations and individuals did or didn’t do. Talk of settings up a trust fund is a complete cop out. I have no sense that the government has any empathy with the victims and it is devoid of any ideas that will crystallise public sentiment and set out a programme of action to address, once and for all, the legacy of decades of organised rape and torture concentration camps for children. As I write it now I still cannot believe it… Rape and torture camps for children….. and who is organising it? Perhaps a psychopathic regime in Cambodia? A doomsday quasi-Christian cult in Central America? No! Religious congregations in Ireland.<br /><br /> <br />The religious orders covered by the report have done some great things and provided some excellent educational and social services to Ireland over the past several decades. This, however, is irrelevant because the of what was done by those who were members of and who managed those organisations and that we must accept the collateral damage that will come with purging this heinous and evil virus from Ireland. My view is that the response here is to close those congregations with immediate effect; close down their day to day operations in an orderly fashion; quantify their assets (both here and internationally), seize all of their assets and resources (having been paid by the Irish State to provide care for children, but having failed to do so); transition over their active services to, say, the Department of Education and the HSE; form a plan to handle their staff/members (in retirement etc).<br /><br /> <br /><br />The key point being that the institutions themselves must not be legally permitted to exist, nor to have or recruit members, nor to have bank accounts and that the use of the brand and logo is illegal!<br /><br /> <br /><br />The Department of Foreign affairs and the consular services should lobby countries internationally where these congregations exist so that the initiative is consistent across territorial boundaries.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Prosecute any living members of the congregations where the DPP considers that sufficient and corroborated evidence exists.<br /><br /> <br /><br />This would send out the right signal that we’re dealing with our past abuses effectively.<br /><br /> <br /><br />I was educated by Jesuits and had a very positive secondary school experience. I know many people who have had an excellent education from some of the orders implicated in the abuse. Nevertheless, I believe that the congregations that are the subject of the Ryan report must be closed down. We owe this to the victims. In the same way that all traces of national socialism were eradicated from post-war Germany, we must also purge these poisonous organisations from Ireland and consign them to a very shameful period of modern Irish history.Declannoreply@blogger.com