There has been a call for an inquiry headed by a judge of the Supreme Court into how the Brothers of Charity dealt with sex abusers among their members "given that sexual abuse has been unearthed in Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway in Brother of Charity establishments".
The call was made yesterday by a former senior member of staff at the order's facility in Kilcornan, Co Galway.
It follows the publication last week of the McCoy report into Brothers of Charity residential institutions in Galway, which followed an eight-year investigation into allegations of the sexual abuse of 21 intellectually disabled children by 18 men, including 11 Brothers of Charity.
The allegations were described as "shocking" by Dr Kevin McCoy, retired chief inspector of Northern Ireland Social Services, who finalised the report. Children as young as eight allegedly suffered abuse ranging to rape.
A press briefing on the report in Galway last week was told attempts by management to protect a brother subsequently convicted of abuse by transferring him from one location to another, applied to him only. On publication of the report Minister of State for Health Dr Jimmy Devins said he was setting up an independent inquiry into the delay in its preparation.
Now Dr Margaret Kennedy, a consultant and specialist disability and abuse trainer who worked at the Brothers of Charity Kilcornan centre in Co Galway for a number of years until 2004, has written to the Government calling for a Ferns-type inquiry into the Brothers of Charity.
She asked: "What measures will the Government take to call to account those brothers responsible for cover-up, movement of brothers and the conspiracy of silence within the Brothers of Charity?"
She further asked: "What measures will the Government take to ascertain the exact numbers of victims within all Brothers of Charity establishments who are now still alive and reaping the legacy of their abuse?"
Dr Kennedy added: " . . . given the McCoy report is not a statutory one, is it not time for the Government to send in expert teams to inspect all Brother of Charity establishments in Ireland?"
She said that she believed that successive health ministers bore responsibility for delay in publication of the McCoy report, as did the Western Health Board/HSE.
