Sir, – Breda O’Brien’s column in Saturday’s Irish Times has shaken me to the core (“Groups of men are sexually exploiting children in residential care. Where is the outrage?”, Opinion & Analysis, July 16th).
She explains clearly the vulnerability of our children who are placed in residential care and the ease with which they can be exploited. She highlights our collective lack of outrage at the exploitation. We all know that the family can be the most dangerous place for some of us with widespread abuse in various forms masquerading as “love” behind closed doors. How truly terrifying to know that the professional setting is no more safer. Children who experience trauma in the form of sexual abuse, etc, are entirely dependent on caring adults to help them process the abuse and learn to separate their sense of themselves from the toxic impact of the predators’ actions. The trauma, like grief, lives inside an abused child forever, hopefully dormant and not actively damaging them as adults. We only have to look around us to see how many people are openly living lives of violent desperation and screaming their pain for all to hear. I don’t have solutions; my intellect tells me that expressing justifiable anger at the results of the study referenced by Breda O’Brien would be a first step. Silence to any sort of toxic behaviour in any area of life is a very dangerous reaction.
I would like to scream my anger very loudly at the results of the scoping study Protecting against Predators. I think it is a truly frightening and horrific reflection on society that is frequently mirrored within families in similar situations. Where is the outrage?
Time indeed to stand up for the vulnerable children who have been failed and will continue to be failed unless we are prepared to take action individually and as a community. It’s way past time. – Yours, etc,
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KAY DAVERN,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – A number of weeks ago a report emanated from UCD’s social policy school drawing attention to predatory gangs of men sexually exploiting teenage girls in residential care in Ireland. This report garnered much publicity.
In The Irish Times on Saturday, Breda O’Brien’s column referred to the RTÉ saga and barter systems, while there exists a " . . . a much more sinister kind of barter, where children in residential care are exploited sexually by co-ordinated gangs of older men in return for gifts, alcohol, drugs or sometimes just affection”.
On Monday, July 17th last the Child Law Project’s most recent report is highlighted in your paper, as is former Judge Dermot Simms having written to relevant Ministers outlining his deep concerns about children in care in general, and suggesting that the State may ultimately face compensation claims for failing to care adequately for such children.
The Taoiseach is quoted as saying this is “a matter of deep concern,” and Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris said the reports were “very sobering” and the current situation is something “That should stop everyone in their tracks, including those of us in Government”.
The reality in all of this is that it is not new. Eight years ago, on October 27th, 2015, Carl O’Brien reported in The Irish Times that “Children in care are at ‘major risk’ of joining sex trade”. The report referred to claims by Maurice Fenton, an experienced social care worker, which were taken from his then upcoming book Social Care and Child Welfare in Ireland: Integrating Residential care, Leaving Care and Aftercare. Without disparaging the UCD study, it is in essence saying what Fenton said in 2015. Strangely, The Irish Times’s report of 2015 isn’t even referenced nor is Fenton’s book in the UCD study. I am sure his book, because of its wide-ranging content, has found its way, or should have found its way, to the relevant departments, third-level libraries and child advocacy agencies.
What has happened since 2015?
Very little, it would appear; a cynic might be tempted to say that perhaps in a few more years another study will alert us to something similar happening in the care system. Again, the response from Government will be predictable, as it was after the Ryan report (2009) and the others referred to above. However, it is a safe bet that nothing will happen.
And a further question in the above context: where is the “Grace” report? Details around this most disturbing case rightly received much publicity a number of years ago. Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly gave an extension to October 2022 for its completion and now, nine months later, we have heard nothing. Why? – Yours, etc,
NOEL HOWARD,
Kilworth,
Co Cork.