Main focus of Friday, May 22, 2009

Child abuse scandal in Ireland

An independent commission of enquiry in Ireland presented a report on Wednesday dealing with the abuse of children in Church institutions. According to the report thousands of children in Catholic homes and reformatories for orphans were maltreated, beaten and sexually abused over many years. The perpetrators included priests, monks and nuns.

Irish Examiner - Ireland

The Irish Examiner says the state and the Irish people are partly to blame for the cases of church abuse: "We still have the unacceptable situation where the State can wash its hands of what goes on in our schools saying that they are not responsible for the welfare of pupils. This is an immoral dodge and must be changed forthwith. ... This is not an academic issue as [the] Department of Education is today, on your behalf, fighting child sexual abuse victims in the courts to ensure that the State is declared to have no legal responsibility for their ordeal. The State, again on your behalf, has even threatened victims that it will force them to pay costs (their own and the State's) should they persist. ... We all know this is wrong yet we stay silent. By our refusal to step outside our comfort zone and challenge our Government and ourselves we have surrendered one of the central tenets of democracy - government of the people, by the people, for the people." (22/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Religion, » Ireland

Diário de Notícias - Portugal

After the publishing of the report on cases of church abuse in Ireland the daily Diário de Notícias accuses the Irish government of having ignored the warning signs and calls for the Catholic Church to adopt a clear stance: "A commission that spent nine years investigating children's homes and orphanages run by the Church has now reported … that two thousand children in these institutions were abused and maltreated. Instead of being protected these children became the victims of criminals who were supposed to be looking after them. Nor is the Irish state free of blame. For decades the ministry of education chose to ignore the warning signs: In these institutions … there were starving children and others with broken bones. The sexual abuse was 'merely' another form of violence they were exposed to. The facts are serious and shocking, above all because these are not just individual cases, and they must be condemned by the Church." (22/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Social affairs, » Ireland

La Repubblica - Italy

In the daily La Repubblica Irish writer Joseph O'Connor describes the revelations about abuse in Ireland as a symbol of the painful awakening of a society: "Corrupt politicians, greedy bankers and real estate speculators have almost ruined our country. And as if that wasn't enough now comes the official report on the abuse of children in the care of the clergy which confirms what we all have long known at the bottom of our hearts: for decades this country … the home of James Joyce, of [W.B.] Yeats and [Samuel] Beckett has also been the home of child abuse. … The almost excessive respect and deference toward the Irish clergy has turned out to be a breeding ground in which child abusers and criminals could thrive undisturbed. … In the majority of cases the children, the victims of abuse and violence, were not believed. … And as Ireland's richest and most powerful organisation the Catholic Church … did everything possible to silence its victims." (22/05/2009)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Ireland
All available articles from » Joseph O'Connor

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