EVEN AGAINST the backdrop of successive reports into child sexual abuse over recent years, the details of last week’s case make for horrific and chilling reading. The man at the centre of the scandal was sentenced to life at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar, Co Mayo, after pleading guilty to repeatedly raping and assaulting four of his daughters. He is already serving a lengthy sentence for multiple counts of rape and assault of a fifth daughter, who bore two children by him.
There are growing questions about whether the State could have intervened earlier. It has emerged that the Health Service Executive was in contact with the family since 2000, and one of the daughters made a statement to gardaí that same year which led to her father’s arrest. She subsequently withdrew it under pressure from her parents. The HSE has now launched an independent review into its involvement with the family.
While it is too early to say if the family was failed by the State, the case raises yet more troubling questions about how abuse was allowed to continue, even after authorities were alerted to very serious concerns.
There have been numerous reports into cases of how the State failed to protect vulnerable children. The Roscommon abuse case is the most recent in a long line of disturbing cases still seared into the public memory, such as the Kilkenny incest case, Kelly Fitzgerald in Mayo and the McColgan family in Sligo. Those reports highlighted a lack of inter-agency co-operation, failing to implement child protection guidelines and lack of early intervention. So many recommendations were marked by a depressing pattern of inaction.
There are, however, some faint signs of hope. Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald has promised to establish a new child protection agency which, in time, will be separate from the HSE. There are also plans to place child protection guidelines on a statutory footing, as well as a law to make it an offence to fail to report information on child sexual abuse to authorities. These reforms are welcome, but long overdue.
The State’s obligations towards children who cannot be cared for by their families are clear and unambiguous. But too often it has failed miserably.
Political will and meaningful supports are vital to ensure we learn from these disturbing cases of horrendous abuse. Too many children continue to be failed by the State.