St John Ambulance has paid a settlement, the amount of which was undisclosed, to a survivor who alleged he was sexually abused as a child by a former senior figure in the voluntary first aid organisation several decades ago.
The organisation is facing a further five civil cases taken by men who alleged they were sexually abused by the former volunteer, court records show.
A report last year by Mr Justice Geoffrey Shannon found the first aid organisation’s past culture had “facilitated” the grooming of children and that it “failed to intervene” on knowledge about boys being at risk of abuse for years in the 1990s.
More than 16 boys were allegedly sexually abused by one former senior figure in the organisation’s Old Kilmainham division in Dublin between the early 1960s and late 1990s. The voluntary organisation failed to act against the man for years despite a “significant degree of organisational awareness” of the risk he posed to children, the report said.
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In one case taken in the High Court by a survivor who was allegedly abused by the senior figure in the 1970s, the organisation agreed to pay out a financial settlement in recent months. The alleged victim was represented in the case by Pearse Mehigan & Co Solicitors, a firm specialising in abuse cases. St John Ambulance said it could not comment on the settlement or disclose the amount paid out.
Separately, several long-serving directors have left the organisation’s board and been replaced as part of a promised overhaul in response to the historical abuse scandal.
After a lengthy delay, the organisation has also hired a full-time child protection officer, which was one of the key recommendations of the Shannon report.
Michael Lynch, a former garda in the protective services bureau who more recently worked as a safeguarding lead for Scouting Ireland in the wake of a past abuse scandal, was hired for the position.
St John Ambulance successfully lobbied the Department of Children to step in to provide €100,000 in funding to help it fill the role, as it said it did not have the financial resources to cover the salary.
It is understood the total cost of the independent review commissioned into the past abuse amounted to about €600,000.
Mr Justice Shannon, a leading child protection expert who was later appointed to the Circuit Court as a judge, carried out the review over a near two-year period. It is understood he waived all fees owed for the work, which would have been about €200,000.
However, the organisation is believed to have run up significant bills for legal and data protection advice, as it was reviewing whether it could publish the report without redactions after it was submitted by the judge. The organisation said it could not comment on the costs of the independent review.
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