IRELAND
One in Four
One of the notable and welcome outcomes of the Ferns Inquiry has been the positive impact the process has had upon many of those who chose to give evidence to it. In these days of tribunal and inquiry fatigue, where inquiries seem to last forever and achieve little it has been encouraging to be part of an investigation that not only reported with objectivity, integrity and truth, but which also changed lives for the better. If those voices who for so many years told us that the issues investigated by the Ferns Inquiry were “all in the past” and that we should all “get on with our lives and get over it” were ever to be finally silenced then surely this report demands that silence.
The Ferns Report will now lead to much improved child protection. It will result in changes to the law of this republican democracy that will help to ensure that what happened here can never happen again. It will result in better protection for our children, and our children’s children. This investigation and the courage of those who came forward to give evidence to it speak loudly and tell us that there is extraordinary merit in responding to such past hurts in ways that reshape all of our futures.