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	Whatever It Costs, Make the Church Pay By Michael Godfrey The Nationalist May 27, 2009 http://www.carlow-nationalist.ie/tabId/426/itemId/2969/Whatever-it-costs-make-the-Church-pay.aspx I OVERHEARD a remark last weekend that sickened me. The person was speaking about all the coverage the Ryan Commission into institutional child abuse was receiving. "I'm sick of it, there has been far too much about it. What's done can't be changed so let's move on," said the person to another as they went about their shopping. True there has been blanket coverage of the report, but to dismiss it in such an offhand manner shows just what that person is made of. There could be blanket coverage of the report from now until hell freezes over, and that person would still not get it. What happened to all those children is inexcusable, indefensible and a national disgrace. Whatever we do for the victims of such abuse will never be enough, and if we apologise every day from now until hell freezes over, it will still not be enough. I, and hundreds of thousand of others of my age and older, enjoyed a very happy childhood, but there are people of my age who went through a living nightmare - and as a result of what happened to them while in 'care', continue to live in that nightmare. I can remember back in the late 1970s, while working as a journalist in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, stopping near Ferrybank, which is on the outskirts of the town, on a Thursday evening to give a lift to two teenagers. At the time I was aware that Ferrybank was a place where kids were 'sent' for various offences. The two youngsters I picked up were young Dubs and it was obvious they were 'doing a runner'. I thought little about it other than to agree to give them a lift to Kilkenny where they said they were going to get the train to Dublin to see their parents. In hindsight, I now realise the likelihood was that these teenagers, not much younger than myself but far less fortunate, were running away from abuse. The stories that later came out of Ferrybank would make the hair stand on the back of your head. Some years later I was back in Carlow and covering the courts. Every court has a few 'regulars', - in the eyes of the law they are habitual criminals, but to the rest of us they are just a nuisance. These are the lads who are forever getting drunk and causing trouble. One such individual I knew well. Every few months you were guaranteed an appearance from this fellow. If he wasn't sent to jail he was receiving psychiatric treatment. The poor man was obviously battling with his demons - but not doing a very good job. Then one day I found out that this same individual was in a residential treatment centre, having given evidence at one of the first hearings regarding institutional child abuse. He hadn't voluntarily come forward. In fact, but for the works of one of the first investigators, his story might never have come to light. This investigator had travelled to England to interview a suspected victim and during the course of the questioning, the name of the 'regular' at Carlow District Court came to light. To cut a long story short, the investigator, who had years of experience dealing with all sorts of tragedies, said he had never come across a person to receive such brutal physical, sexual and psychological treatment as this young man. No wonder he had demons to fight on a daily basis. I was given some of the details of the barbaric acts committed against this man and I can tell you no amount of compensation could repay him for the pain and suffering he has had to endure. No amount of saying 'sorry' will ever be enough and no amount of love bestowed on him will ever make up for what he has lost. For him and the thousands of other victims of this crime, it must be sickening to hear all the politicians going on about the Ryan report, some trying to justify what the government did, and others stating they had made a botch of the entire affair. But the most sickening thing of all must be the attitude of the 18 religious orders that have joined forces to say they cannot pay any more into a compensation fund. No matter what it costs, they should be forced to pay, either by the government or by the Church. If they plead inability then everything they have should be taken from them and they should be banned from continuing to operate in this country. We are hearing a lot about all the good work these organisations have done in Ireland, which is true, but that does not minimise all the hurt they have caused. No one is denying that previous generations owe their primary education to various religious orders. However, for some reason or other, members of these orders strayed away from the principles of their founders and now they have to pay up. We will hear a lot in the months ahead about the cost to the taxpayer of this compensation. One way we can immediately reduce that bill is to do away with all the legal representation trying to deny these people their voice. Let's be big enough to say sorry, what happened cannot be defended or excused and move on from there. We might just find that the victims of such abuse will have a bigger heart and a willingness to forgive far greater than the State which was charged with looking after their welfare in the first instance.
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