Dublin Arch Diocese Report

Yesterdays report into the abuse of children in the Dublin Arch Diocese at the hands of members of religious orders brings nothing new to the table in relation to the historical abuse and rape of children in the Irish Republic. This Government is morally bankrupt as was many Fianna Fail Governments before it. Child abuse in the Irish Republic has and will remain a Moral Quagmire Punctuated by Political Indifference. Yesterday TV journalists told us that many who helped the religious child rapists evade prosecution will not face the courts as it is not a crime to have blind faith. This unfortunately is a convenient lie. The Crime of Misprision of Felony existed in Irish Law at the very time that these crimes of concealment were being committed. The Crime of Misprision of Felony meant that anyone concealing a crime that carried a sentence of five years or more could face upon conviction a sentence of five years in jail for that concealment. Yet this crime was removed from the statute books to facilitate the many criminals identified in both yesterdays report and the Ryan report.

However, lets not fool ourselves yesterdays report and the Ryan Report only identify a few of Ireland's many tens of thousands of child abusers and rapists. For every man/woman convicted of abusing a child another thousand walk free. The annual reports from the Health Boards throw some light on the numbers of abusers in the Irish Republic but the reality of numbers is lost due to under reporting. Yesterdays report also highlights the fact that the vast majority of religious child rapists and abusers are homophiles, these are men attracted to prepubescent boys. This is the correct Forensic definition of these offenders and it is important that we use the correct definitions when dealing with child abuse.

There are many groups and individuals who wish to portray the sexual abuse of children as the preserve of heterosexual males, however this is a very dangerous road to travel as it is clear that women, homosexuals and other sexual groups are as engaged in the abuse of children as are heterosexual males. We set a very dangerous precedent if we say its OK to ask such a person to baby sit as they will not abuse a child, child abuse is not alien to any group of persons and it is important that we remember that.

In The Irish Republic today many hypocrites will point the finger at the report released yesterday, however many skeletons sit on the desk of the Director of Public Prosecutions, there will be people in Monaghan, Cork, Dublin and around the country who will point the finger today, but the reality is that the finger is pointing right back at them, these people may have used their position or influence to stop their own prosecutions for heinious crimes against children but the final court of justice will not be presided over by man and will not be influenced by mealy mouthed politicians.