Church 'Child Torture' Ignored, Says Report

A report has said that the abuse of thousands of children in church and State run institutes in Ireland was "torture" and one of the greatest human rights failures.

Amnesty International Ireland, a human rights watchdog, has released a scathing report into why youngsters suffered decades of inhuman and degrading treatment by being brutalised, beaten and starved.

Colm O'Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said: "The abuse of tens of thousands of Irish children is perhaps the greatest human rights failure in the history of the state."

Reports such as the Ferns, Ryan, Murphy and Cloyne brought to light the horrific details of child neglect, physical abuse and rape.

According to Mr O'Gorman the details outlined in the Ryan Report equate to the "legal definition of torture".

Mr O'Gorman has spoken out against the guardians, clergy, civil servants and gardia who have escaped accountability.

Mr O'Gorman – a survivor of clerical abuse – said the Ferns, Ryan, Murphy and Cloyne Reports told what happened to children, but not why.

Amnesty International Ireland commissioned a new report; carried out by Dr Carole Holohan, to explore why it happened to ensure it never happens again.

Mr O’Gorman alleged that the abuse happened, not because we didn’t know about it, but because many people across society turned a blind eye to it.

Indeed an opinion poll carried out by the watchdog revealed that society would prefer to turn a blind eye to child abuse. This is according to half the people polled in a Red C survey of over 1,000 adults.

The finding echoes last week's observation by the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, that some people are in two minds about putting children first when confronted with an allegation of abuse.

The Background

The Ferns report in 2005 revealed that over one hundred allegations were made against 21 priests over a period of 40 years- the report indicated that the hierarchy put the interests of priests before children.

Meanwhile the Ryan Report shocked the nation with revelations tens of thousands of children were neglected and suffered physical and sexual abuse for decades in orphanages, industrial schools and residential institutions run by religious orders.

Another report, the Murphy Report, found four successive archbishops in Dublin had covered up allegations of abuse and did not report claims to gardaí for decades.

Most recently the Cloyne Report, published in July, revealed former Bishop John Magee, a one-time Vatican aide and papal envoy, deliberately misled authorities and failed to report clerical abuse allegations as recently as three years ago.

Mr O'Gorman said: "The State must operate on behalf of the people, not on behalf of interest groups. The reports showed how the State had a deferential relationship with the Catholic Church.

"The complaints of parents, children and lay workers about problems and abuses in residential institutions were dismissed by officials, while the reputation of religious orders was defended by Ministers and TDs in the Dáil".

"Political actions must have at their core the best interests of the wider population and not sectional interests," Amnesty added.

Following the publication of the Cloyne Report Minister For Justice Alan Shatter said child protection measures were "very much on target", with legislation to be published by the end of October.

Mr Shatter said moves to put the obligatory reporting of child abuse to gardaí, as well as the vetting of adults who work with children, on a statutory footing were well under way.

(LB/BMcC)