Skip to main content
Normal View

Seanad Éireann debate -
Thursday, 4 Mar 1993

Vol. 135 No. 5

Kilkenny Incest Case: Statements.

Acting Chairman

I want to remind the House that Statements should be confined to the inquiry into the Kilkenny incest case. Comment on the decision of the court in this case is not in order. Court decisions may be referred to but should not be criticised. It is in order to refer to factual matters decided in a court but to comment on the decision of a court would not be in order.

This is a very sensitive issue and I know the House will treat it as such. To condemn this crime sounds extremely hollow. I want to express my sympathy and the sympathy of all Members, to the victim of this crime. We should congratulate Garda Agnes Reddy for her excellent work on this case and on a previous case, the substance of which is not related to this crime.

I welcome the Minister's commitment to carry out an investigation and inquiry on this matter. I join with the Council for the Status of Women in asking that the results of this inquiry be made public. If action needs to be taken both Houses should not be found wanting. The horrific details of this crime — and I am sure we do not know all the details — would not hold a candle to some of the video nasties which we would ban and condemn.

A number of issues need to be discussed and I will deal with one or two of them now. The sentencing and the discretionary powers of the judge in this case were referred to by the Minister for Justice, and she also stated that she had no power to intervene in such matters. I ask her to pay particular attention to sentencing for the crimes of incest and rape because under the Criminal Justice Bill, which has been initiated in the Dáil, there is a seven year sentence for incest. This is appalling. The victim in this case stated that she had suffered for 17 years, yet the court sentence was for seven years; this would probably amount to three and a half years with remission.

The Council for the Status of Women has called for mandatory treatment for sex offenders. I support this but there is an urgent need to ensure that victims of these crimes receive help and support. It is particularly poignant that the victim, who is a mother of an 11 year old child, has asked the State to help her rear her child; she did not ask for help to get over what surely must be a most horrendous experience. As Members of the Oireachtas we have a great responsibility and duty.

It appears that something has gone terribly wrong with the system which is supposed to protect children. I will not preempt the outcome of the inquiry, but the statement that social workers were not empowered to make the child press charges seems ludicrous. Why should social workers need to be empowered to make the child press charges? We should have a system which enables our social services and our Department of Justice to take that initiative. Young children and women who are the victims of abuse look to us for protection. They do not expect to have to cope with this situation single-handed nor do they expect to see themselves, as the victim in this case feels, on the run. She believes that she will be in danger when her abuser is released. This is a view held by the whole family.

It is easy for the House to spend an hour debating the rights and wrongs of this case while offering platitudes and sympathies, but we must accept our responsibilities. The fact that our child care agencies and welfare services are acting under the Children's Act, 1908, is a condemnation of all in this House. We must ensure that the Child Care Act, 1992, and its components are speedily introduced. At least then we will have done more than utter empty phrases, and we will have faced up to our responsibilities. I thank the Minister for attending here today.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Dea, to the House. Having raised this matter last night and criticised the Leader of the House for not allowing debate, I now compliment him for the opportunity to discuss this sad case. I express my sincere sympathy and support to the victim of this terrible crime, a person who has suffered appallingly for 17 years. It is only right that this House should express the revulsion and anger of the people at what this unfortunate person experienced.

It is a sad reflection on society, and on all of us, that this crime continued for 17 years. It is apparent that many people who had been in contact with her knew that the abuse was taking place. I do not want to criticise anybody because the system did not allow them or give them access to a resolution of the difficulties experienced by this person. The investigation initiated by the Minister for Health must expose why the abuse continued for 17 years when so many people knew about it but felt their hands were tied. We must ensure that such violations do not continue.

What has been revealed this week is an example of what many people may have experienced during childhood and young adulthood. We must have systems in place to ensure that similar incidents cannot happen. If such systems are in place, some good will have come from this week's revelations which opened our eyes to the incidence of incest. I am not criticising the Government or anybody else because this is not a political issue. The authorities, especially the Garda, were powerless under present procedures. The Garda needed a written statement accusing her father of the terrible acts that he was carrying out. They did not receive it and therefore could not act. How could she accuse her father who was committing such acts of violence against her, and expose herself to further violence because she had made such a statement? The situation must change to allow exposure of such incidents.

I would like to congratulate and pay tribute to Garda Agnes Reddy who exposed the situation and stayed with it. Society is not facing up to the problems of child sexual abuse. Six months ago a report by Adapt House in Limerick on abuse exposed the severe circumstances many women and children endure in violent family situations. We, the legislators, should ensure that proper legislation to deal with this subject is introduced. It is important that a full investigation of all the facts surrounding this case be made. The Minister must ensure that proposals to investigate the Kilkenny case will expose all aspects. A full investigation into the difficulties experienced by professionals who tried to help the victim and her family over the seven year period is required. A clear explanation must be given as to why action was not taken for so many years, why protection was not given, especially since when the woman became pregnant at the age of 15 she claims she then informed social workers of her plight. Some answer should be given as to why her horrendous suffering continued for 10 to 11 years after the pregnancy. It is important that the inquiry should be an independent one and I fully accept the independence of Catherine McGuinness, a former Member of this House who will chair the inquiry. She should be allowed to select her own team of investigators.

It is accepted by all reasonable people that a sentence of seven years is too linient in such cases. The judge had to deal with the situation he was presented with under section 1 of the Protection of Incest Act, 1908. The maximum sentence for such acts is seven years although some uncertainty surrounds this and the Minister, being a legal person, could inform us as to what areas could be looked at. The Minister should take the earliest opportunity to ensure that the maximum sentence for such cruel acts and crimes be raised to 20 years. The Criminal Justice Bill may be the Minister's first opportunity to deal with this situation, therefore I respectfully ask her to consider allowing the Judiciary to impose proper sentencing in such cases.

This incident unfortunately is not an isolated one. We must ensure that help is more readily available to people in similar circumstances. We must curb our hesitancy to interfere in family situations where authorities believe that criminal acts are taking place. Traditionally the autonomous family unit is protected but cannot remain so under all circumstances. We must be prepared to intervene, and even without being asked. I call on the Government to implement the Child Care Bill in full. Seventeen out of the Bill's 74 sections have been implemented to date. It is a step the Minister can take without coming back to the legislature. It has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas and I ask him to implement it as soon as possible.

I join with other Senators in congratulating Garda Agnes Reddy on uncovering this crime and I ask the Minister to take particular note; a woman of that calibre deserves to be acknowledged and promoted.

Last week a horrific murder case, in England prompted Patricia Redlich to write an article entitled "Who failed Jamie?" in the Sunday Independent of 21 February 1993. I quote:

In all its horror, it parades before us the sins of deed, and more particularly of omission, that we have committed over the last 30 years. It has taken this tragedy to stir the slumbering conscience of the '60s generation of liberal lefties. We were the first community of elders ever in the history of mankind to declare that there was no such thing as evil. Instead we argued that criminals really want to be good, and need guidance rather than the guillotine. We went even further. We declared criminals to be victims of poverty, lack of parenting, of society itself. In the process we said that the individual is not responsible for his actions. He is preprogrammed, has no choice, is merely an automaton set loose by an uncaring world. We stripped man of his individual conscience, abolished the concept of personal responsibility. In its place we put "society", created the welfare state, with the task of not just minding everyone at a physical level, but also charged with the responsibility of being the sole moral guardian of our world. We handed over responsibility to social workers, probation officers, school councillors, psychologists and the courts, with the liberal imperative to reform rather than attribute blame and punishment.

....We have also created a world where people are not just horrified by the brutality of James Bulger's murder, but are also surprised, disbelieving, that evil like this can exist. And psychologists are appearing on television, telling us that such murders are not the norm, that the deed does not fit any particular picture, any pattern they can distinguish of familiar criminal behaviour. What they are really saying is that this crime defies definition within the victim culture we have so consistently cultivated.

I would love, if I had the time, to read the whole article because it is a brilliant one.

This type of crime would not have happened in years gone by. We have now built up a society now where nobody interferes any more. Society has lost respect for teachers, priests and the Garda. Nobody has authority to intervene any more. People do not tell others their problems because everyone says there is an official paid to do that and why should I do it. We have built up a society where somebody who interferes is likely to be dragged before the courts. Under the Irish judicial system the Good Samaritan can be penalised because what he did was not his job, he should not have interfered in that he took the law into his own hands.

Poverty and lack of jobs are not to blame for this situation. A friend of mine had a flat in Ballymun. At one time I could visit him at 12 midnight or in the early hours and nobody bothered me. A person could park his car anywhere in the city, walk and window shop and no one would touch him. What has changed society? We have more money now but there is no happiness because we have a society that is less caring and we have handed over all our responsibilities to professionals.

There was a lot to be said for the fireside law and the hob lawyers, when everything was discussed in the locality. If anything untoward was happening a word was whispered to the school teacher, the priest, the doctor or the local sergeant. There was the meitheal system, where people went from house to house helping each other.

Because people are better off they can afford to furnish and carpet their houses. Nowadays, you cannot walk into a neighbour's house uninvited; they are wary of opening their doors to strangers.

The day we abolished the small two-teacher schools was the day we started to demolish society as we knew it. In the two-teacher schools the teachers knew every child and they were part of the family of that school. They knew if there were problems in a family. The Garda visited the area once a year checking dog licences, school attendance books, etc. All these people kept in touch with what was happening. Society has become very impersonal. Now we press buttons and accept whatever answer the computer gives.

I disagree with a headline in today's newspaper from an organisation for whom I have great respect and admiration, the ICA. They are doing a great job in rural areas — even though they will not allow men to join their ranks. I do not believe that one in three women in Ireland today is sexually abused. That is a statistic that remains to be proved and I would like to see more facts. I appeal to the ICA to let us know where they got those figures because if they are true, we are sitting on a time bomb and we are the most immoral country in the world today. I do not believe that is so.

My sympathy extends to girls, as in the recent case in Kilkenny. It is a very sad case. In the past, if an unmarried mother had to go into a convent the nuns would have investigated and found out her story. When the health boards were advised to appoint social workers, we were told they would solve all our problems. In this case, the social workers and the legal and medical professions were blind. They saw this girl with horrific bruises going into hospital for treatment and to have a baby. I believe these people have a lot to answer for. My sympathy goes out to the girl and I sincerely hope we will bring the human touch back into society.

Acting Chairman

I understand Senator Henry wishes to share her time with Senator Honan and Senator Norris. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I rise with great rage to speak on this matter. I welcome the Minister to the House and inform him that the Department of Health could set up inquiries into cases like this all over the country. This case is particularly horrifying because of the length of time the abuse went on and the terrible injuries the girl received but let me assure the House that it is not an isolated case.

I was on the original committee set up by the Department of Health to establish the Sexual Assault Unit in the Rotunda Hospital in the early 1980s. It was set up to deal mainly with rape victims and to get forensic evidence. The Garda were naturally anxious, with improved forensic methods to collect better evidence for rape cases so that they could obtain convictions. When the assault unit was set up in the Rotunda Hospital, we thought we would be dealing with general rape cases from the Dublin area. That was not the case. Within about six weeks we were flooded with cases of child sexual abuse. I have to tell Senator Farrell that television did not bring incest to Ireland. There are many women older than I am who were subjected to the appalling crime of incest. It is wrong to suggest that this is a new phenomenon in our society; it is not. I do not know if it is worse here than elsewhere, it probably is not, but we have a much better way of hiding it.

We have talked here about not interfering in the family home. I do not want to see social workers and doctors being the scapegoats in this inquiry. The girl from Kilkenny said that people used to pass her in the street and just say hello, although they knew what was going on. We have got to a situation where a married man can do whatever he likes in his home without anyone querying the situation or asking why that family is so isolated — and often they are desperately isolated.

When we started the Sexual Assault Unit in the Rotunda Hospital, the most astonishing thing was the way teachers came to us. They came because they had nowhere else to bring the children. There is no rape crisis centre in Kilkenny. If there had been, the girl or her mother could have gone there. The Programme for a Partnership Government promised increased funding for the rape crisis centres. Most people agree it is probably the best place for these women to go — and some men also. It is ridiculous that there is no provision in the budget for rape crisis centres.

Senator McGennis mentioned the 1991 child care legislation but that measure cannot be implemented without money. Irrespective of any inquiries established or pious statements made we must put our money where our mouth is and pay for services to prevent this happening again. In my view, Catherine McGuinness is the ideal person to head the inquiry but, as I said, unless we are prepared to pay for the services required to deal with these cases, there is no point continuing with them.

I welcome the Minister to the House and the setting up of this inquiry. I wonder, as the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children said yesterday, if he could not structure a speedy and simple inquiry by making eight phone calls to the eight directors of community care in the health boards throughout the country. They will tell him what is needed to bring about a change in a system that is failing, or potentially failing, all Irish children. I welcome the pledge given by the Minister for Justice that she will give priority to considering an increase in the penalties for incest. Women have been appalled by the sentences imposed in rape and incest cases. As a society, we should not be giving this signal to women.

In the present case and the Lavina Kerwick case both women said after their trials that they were sorry they had taken the cases to court. That is an appalling indictment of this society. As a woman I do not want to be a member of a society that treats women like that. I welcome the Minister's statement and I hope action will soon be taken. I ask the Ministers for Health and for Justice to look at the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Women. The constitutional legal issues chapter and the health chapter of that report make several recommendations in relation to the issues all Senators have spoken about today. Recommendations are made regarding counselling for victims and offenders in violent assault cases and in cases of rape, treatment of complaints in rape trials, sentencing in rape and incest trials, combating child sexual abuse and implementing the provisions of the Child Care Act. Under the health section we have recommended that funding for rape crisis centres would be the responsibility of health boards and that centres should be given multi annual funding so they would know that they could continue in existence, as Senator Henry said.

What kind of society is this in which people feel they have no right to interfere in family situations? It is appalling that children, one of the weakest sections of society are not adequately protected. What sort of people are we who convey this message so that children are afraid to come forward believing that they will not be supported. We must welcome the two women who have come forward and convince children and women throughout Ireland that if they come forward with incidents of abuse, action will be taken. Inquiries are not the answer. As Senator Henry said incidents of sexual abuse are numerous in Ireland; we know what is going on and what needs to be done. I welcome the appointment of Catherine McGuinness to head this inquiry if an inquiry has to take place. I think she will be in agreement with the recommendations of the Second Commission on the Status of Woman of which she was a member.

We should not continue to rely on inquiries for solutions. As Senator Henry said we must put our money where our mouth is. Senator Farrell asked earlier who failed Jamie, the child murdered recently in England. We as legislators are failing the women and the children of this country unless we move on this issue swiftly.

Thank you, a Chathaoirligh. I cannot say I am glad to take part in this debate. I welcome the fact that it has taken place so speedily and I am glad that we have the Minister for Health here with us this evening because I know that as a caring man he will be as concerned as the rest of us about this matter and in particular about the length of time the abuse continued. For about 20 years while this unfortunate woman passed from childhood through adolescence to maturity she was continuously abused by her own father. It is astonishing that this was allowed to happen. As Senator Henry said with great passion and concern, neighbours must have known. People in the community must have known. I read an interview that said people passed by because they were embarrassed. Again and again in my own work I come across circumstances where people say they are sorry but they do not want to get involved because they feel there is nothing they can do and they might expose themselves to some kind of risk. I feel for the impact on the unfortunate son who apparently discovered yesterday for the first time what the real circumstances of his family are. That must have a serious effect on his psychological wellbeing and development. It is a great pity that this news was allowed to filter through to him.

I would like to pay tribute to Garda Reddy. Thank God for a garda with the sensitivity, the decency, the humanity, the compassion and the courage to interfere, because we are told so often that we cannot interfere in families. I comment on the deafening silence from Family Solidarity and from all rightwing moralistic groups who talk about the family. This is a family problem. Why are they not talking about it? Where are they when they are needed to talk about a case of cruelty and family misery? I look forward to their belated response. When we consecrate the family we should examine its reality instead of holding it up as an icon or totem. There are many things wrong with Irish families. There is not only incest but rape within marriage, drunkeness and wife battering. Before we fall down and worship the golden calf of Irish marriage we ought to examine that institution and try to correct what is wrong.

I know as a teacher that frequently it is teachers who detect abuse; they notice an absent-minded, forgetful, distressed child who does not do homework; often they think it may be drugs but frequently the cause is child abuse.

I will make two final points. Some Senators spent an enormous amount of time on the Child Care Bill, 1991, as the Minister will remember. We actually had amendments accepted in this House inroducing the guardian ad litem clause until a caring Fianna Fáil Minister voted it down.

The Minister is right about the need for penalties and nobody knows that better than I do. A friend of mine was murdered in this State because he was gay and his murderer was let off with a suspended sentence. I assure you I will be interested in seeing how sentencing policies can be reviewed.

Acting Chairman

Senator O'Sullivan, I understand you are sharing your time with two of your colleagues.

I will share my time with Senator Kelly and Senator Gallagher.

Acting Chairman

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the Minister for Health to the House and thank also the junior Minister who was here previously, Deputy O'Dea.

I have felt anger and horror at this case and I would like to stress the lessons to be learned from it. This is not an isolated case by any means. This girl spent 16 years in fear and horror and misery and nobody intervened until the garda who has been commended here today. I read in the papers today that the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre say that at least four cases similar to this one will be coming before the courts in the near future, and I know that other rape crisis centres throughout the country are dealing with similar cases. The majority of cases that come to the attention of rape crisis centres are adult female victims of incest in childhood.

As Senator Norris said it is of absolutely no use to pay lip service to an ideal of the family if we do not face up to the reality of what has happened in many Irish families over the years and what continues to happen. In that context I welcome the intention of the Minister not just to investigate this specific case but to make recommendations for the future investigation and management by the health services of suspected cases of child abuse. As Senator Norris also said the health services are not the only services involved because the educational system will have to take account of this matter as well.

Senator Neville described the initiative taken by the Mid-Western Health Board to combat child abuse. Under a welcome new scheme a social worker has been seconded to schools in the area to help teachers identify signs of abuse in children. The scheme should be extended because not only the health of children is endangered in abuse incidents but their entitlements to justice and to education. Each citizen has a duty to care for children and to notice signs of abuse. We organise neighbourhood watch schemes and community alert schemes to look after our property; we must also be alert to people and their problems.

My colleagues will deal with aspects of justice and child care. I want us to learn lessons from this case.

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Howlin to the House. I would like to focus on a slightly different aspect of this case and consider the physical punishment endured by this girl who regarded her rape as punishment. Our constitution does not protect children. Children are regarded as the property of a family; we do not give them individual rights. The Irish Government has not signed the UN Convention on Childrens' Rights. In that we are failing in our duty to our children. I take exception to some of Senator Farrell's remarks about Ireland being a caring society long ago.

Practically every person here grew up in an age when physical punishment was meted out in schools and at home. It was considered a parent's right and duty to beat a child. Teachers were then allowed to inflict horrendous punishments on children and children were expected not to complain and were not listened to if they did. That is the attitude of adults today who grew up in an environment where the infliction of physical punishment was seen as a parent's right. Parents were given the right to vent their frustrations on their children. We, as adults, have to turn that around. We have to say that children should no longer be beaten or punished. That cycle of violence often includes the abuse of spouses as well as children. Women are treated like children by many husbands. They are seen as his property to be used, abused and controlled. That attitude was there in the 1950s, 1940s and 1930s and remnants of it are still there. Women and children are seen as the property of their husband and that is an attitude which we, as a nation, must change.

I would like to share my time with Senator Maloney.

Is that agreed? Agreed.

I raised this matter yesterday in the House because it is urgent and important.

Senator Farrell said this type of crime did not happen long ago. Human nature has not changed. Man's desire to obtain power through sexual abuse has always existed. We have only recently begun to talk about it, to some extent. Most callers to the rape crisis centre and other voluntary agencies are women who suffered abuse in their childhood. It is only now they feel brave enough to come out and talk about it.

Obviously the Kilkenny case and others highlight the serious flaws in our system and gaps in legislation which result in protecting the offender rather than the victim. Sadly, this is not a one-off case, as has been pointed out. Certainly, it is horrific and extreme in every sense, but similar crimes are perpetrated against women and children in our society every day of the week. In fact, I have come across many of them in my work as a solicitor. It takes an extreme case such as this hitting the headlines to awaken us to the need to examine our legislation in this area and do something about it.

Many a woman's life is in shreds because of abuse inflicted on her by a relation or other person. They cannot develop normal relationships or get on with their own lives in a rewarding way. The dignity of life of an abused woman is forever shattered, yet the perpetrators of such hideous crimes serve a few years in prison and then walk free. Where is the justice in this system? It fails to recognise the serious nature of such crimes. Is it because the laws of 1908 and 1935 were formulated by men and are today enforced by male judges in the main?

The judge has a discretion in imposing sentences in these cases to allow for the varying degree of abuse which is right but that discretion should only be allowed to move upwards from a minimum sentence. There is little point in the Oireachtas introducing maximum sentences which are on the books and are not intended to be used or implemented. With particular reference to the Kilkenny case, the judge could have imposed a life sentence on the offender but chose not to do so.

He should have.

The House can reach its own conclusions on that point.

Regarding a charge of incest with a female over 15 years, a maximum seven years' imprisonment can be imposed; that is the law as it stands. That is a serious flaw and, in my opinion, must be increased to 20 years. The introduction of legislation on this point must become a matter of urgency for both Houses and I ask the Minister, Deputy Howlin, to take cognisance of this. There are other issues involved here. Increased penalties will help but a more co-ordinated approach is necessary.

The victims need help. The use of Child-line and other agencies show the need we have in Ireland for a Government backed service to provide counselling and practical help and advise to those whose lives have been shattered by abusers. The offenders need help. I believe there should be compulsory therapy for all convicted sex offenders. Until such help is provided we are wasting our time, we are banging our head against a brick wall; we are trying to deal with the symptom rather than the cause.

We need to provide the Garda with the necessary powers to intervene in family cases of abuse. We need to introduce rights for social workers to act on cases which come to their attention rather than being forced to wait until appalling abuse forces the matter into light. There is a need to be careful however in light of matters which have arisen in Britain where over-zealous social workers overstepped the mark.

However the law as it stands waits for the victim to provide a case of abuse and to pursue it through our criminal system. That in my opinion is a nonsense. The victims of abuse are mostly children who do not know what has happened to them.

I welcome the Minister's appointment of Catherine McGuinness to head our investigation. I hope that matter will be dealt with quickly, made public and acted upon to ensure that we learn something from this.

I welcome the Minister for Health to the House. I sympathise with the person concerned in the Kilkenny case, and the hundreds of women who find themselves in a similar position today.

I welcome the Minister's decision to immediately set up the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the suffering of this girl. It is not a time for casting blame because I feel we, as a society are to blame. This sexual abuse has been going on in Ireland since time began. For years, women have been abused by clergy, teachers, husbands and brothers. I have been a psychiatric nurse for the past 26 years and it is the issue which has come to the fore in the last ten years. Not only young girls but middle-aged women suffer in silence. There have been suicides which were never properly investigated, and abuse was often the cause. Where do these people go for help, to the Garda, the social worker, the clergy, neighbours or their mothers? They tell you that when they approach these individuals they are told they do not want to get involved.

The point that has been missed is that this abuse may start at an early age. At school going age, where does the child go? Does she understand what is being done to her body? Sex education in schools has to be looked at as a matter of urgency.

I organised a seminar on sexual abuse in Letterkenny two years ago and all sections of the social services, including the Garda, attended. I was amazed to learn that there was no comprehensive policy to deal with sexual abuse. Every area of the social services seems to go its own way and we had no specific plan to deal with this problem collectively. I hope this will be done.

What difference does it make if a person is sentenced to seven years or 20 years? The programmes are there to help offenders. Action must be taken early to let those people know help is available.

I congratulate the Minister a former Senator on his appointment as Minister for Health. I had the pleasure of working with him when he was a Senator and I give him a very warm welcome to the House as Minister for Health.

I am very flattered by your kind comments. I wish that my first address to the Seanad was more auspicious and friendly than the awful situation with which we are dealing today.

We were all shocked and horrified by the revelations earlier this week of the brutal and inhuman ill-treatment and abuse of the young woman over a 16 year period in Kilkenny. The unfortunate victim's heart-rendering account of the appalling suffering she endured for so long has deeply moved us and our hearts go out to her and her mother.

I share the widespread concern about this tragic case and I am particularly anxious to establish why the girl's plight was not brought to light earlier so that appropriate action could have been taken to protect her.

I have, accordingly, directed the South-Eastern Health Board to carry out an immediate investigation of the circumstances of this tragic case, in so far as the health services are concerned, and to report back to me as a matter of urgency.

The terms of reference of the investigation team are: to carry out an investigation, in so far as the health services are concerned, of the circumstances surrounding the abuse referred to in the case heard in the Central Criminal Court on 1 March 1993; in particular to establish why action to halt the abuse was not taken earlier; and to make recommendations for the future investigation and management by the health services of cases of suspected child abuse.

An investigation team has already been appointed by the South-Eastern Health Board in response to my direction. This team is headed by Catherine McGuinness, Senior Counsel, who will be assisted by Martin Hynes, Programme Manager for Community Care Services, South-Eastern Health Board; Dr. Sheila Ryan, Director of Community Care and Medical Officer of Health, Midland Health Board, and Bríd Clarke, Head Social Worker, Eastern Health Board.

I hope that the investigation team will complete its task within four weeks at the outset, and that it will report to me shortly thereafter.

I want to emphasise to this House that I am concerned to ensure that every measure possible is taken to prevent a recurrence of what happened in this case. Towards this end, I will be discussing the matter with the chief executive officers of the eight health boards when I meet them next week. In particular, I will be stressing the necessity to ensure that satisfactory arrangements are in place in their areas for the identification, investigation and management of child abuse cases.

In the light of these consultations with the chief executive officers and the results of the investigation being carried out by the South-Eastern Health Board, I shall be reporting to the Government at an early date with recommendations for the introduction of whatever new measures are necessary to improve existing services and procedures for dealing with child abuse, and child care services generally.

It is most unfortunate that the dreadful sexual abuse suffered as a child by the young woman happened at a time when the existence of child sexual abuse was not even publicly acknowledged. For example, the Task Force on Child Care Services which reported in 1980, made scant reference to the incidence of incest and other forms of sexual abuse against vulnerable children. This task force was composed of a number of experts in the field of child care and its report focused on the major issues of the time.

I make this point not in any way to denigrate the excellent work undertaken by that task force, but to illustrate the general lack of awareness of child sexual abuse at the time. Since then, we have all become far more conscious of the nature and scale of this frightening problem. A number of important initiatives have taken place since the mid-1980s, when our awareness of child abuse and particularly child sexual abuse, began to increase dramatically.

In response to the increase in the reports of child sexual abuse, my Department revised its child abuse guidelines to include specific reference to child sexual abuse. These guidelines were specifically designed to provide guidance for all those likely to be professionally involved with children who are victims of any form of child abuse. They spell out clearly the respective responsibilities of, and the steps to be taken by, the key personnel involved in the identification, investigation and management of suspected cases.

In the Eastern Health Board area, units for the investigation and management of alleged child sexual abuse were established early in 1988 at Temple Street Hospital and Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin. During the same year, a special allocation was made to each of the other seven health boards to enable them to establish appropriate services in their areas. Services are now in place in each health board area; some of them are based in a particular hospital in the region while others are provided on a community basis. I might mention that in the South-Eastern Health Board area, there is now a regional child abuse unit based in Ardkeen Hospital in Waterford.

The Department of Education, for its part, has circulated guidelines to schools setting out procedures for dealing with suspected cases of child abuse that come to light within the school setting.

My Department is currently preparing, in consultation with the Garda Síochána, new guidelines for health boards and the gardaí on a co-ordinated approach to the investigation of suspected cases of child abuse. These new guidelines will focus specifically on the need for greater co-operation between the key personnel involved from both authorities, in order to ensure the protection of the child as well as facilitating the full investigation of any crime.

Apart from the continuing process of refining procedures for the identification and investigation of child abuse cases, it is also vitally important to develop programmes aimed at preventing the incidence of all forms of child abuse. In this context, I would like to refer to the child abuse prevention programme known as the "Stay Safe Programme", which is currently being implemented in primary schools around the country, with the active support of my Department, the Department of Education and the health boards. I have met some of the teachers involved in that programme in recent weeks.

The aim of this programme is to prevent all forms of child abuse including bullying by other children, by equipping parents and teachers with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect the children in their care. Children are then taught safety skills in the normal classroom context and these skills are reinforced through discussion with their parents. This approach increases community awareness and makes children less vulnerable to abuse of all kinds.

The response of parents, teachers and children to the Stay Safe Programme has been very positive. The programme has also been instrumental in fostering good working relationships between teachers and members of the local health board community care teams. This has resulted in better co-operation and co-ordination at local level between the main statutory authorities concerned with the welfare of children.

While primary responsibility for investigating allegations of child abuse rests with the professionals, all members of the community should play their part in combating the incidence of abuse by assisting persons such as the unfortunate girl at the centre of this case, if and when they become aware of difficulties or problems.

I conclude by reiterating that I am committed to ensuring that every possible measure is taken to prevent a recurrence of what happened in this tragic case. I assure the House that, in the light of the report of the investigation team and my forthcoming discussions with the chief executive officers of the health boards, I shall bring before Government, at an early date, proposals for whatever new measures or new resources are required to improve present arrangements for dealing with child abuse and for the care and protection of children generally.

I welcome the Minister to this House and welcome also the establishment of this inquiry, the terms of reference of which the Minister has placed before us. I am pleased that the inquiry team will report to the Minister within four weeks.

It is important for the Minister to enter into urgent discussions with the chief executive officer's of the eight health boards but discussions alone will not be sufficient. The matter should be addressed by ensuring that proper services are put in place in each of the health board areas. One facility in each health board area is inadequate because it is a recognised fact that cases of incest and rape occur in every town and village and across rural Ireland. Health board regions cover a wide area and people in isolated and peripheral parts may not be aware of or have access to facilities that are available to them. It is important to try to localise facilities for victims of abuse. I hope the Minister when he comes back with the report of this enquiry will tell us if money will be allocated specifically to such facilities for which commitment is vital and extremely urgent.

It is unfortunate that it has taken a case as serious as the Kilkenny case to highlight serious flaws in our legislation. It is a well known fact, as Senator Henry said, that child sexual abuse has been happening for many years so it is not a recent phenomenon. Irish people in their sixties and seventies are currently being treated by psychologists and psychiatrists for childhood incidents of sexual abuse and incest. Unfortunately, social conditioning and prevailing attitudes due to the position of the family within the constitution as Senator Kelly mentioned and religious conditioning contribute towards community reluctance to deal with any issue associated with sex. This reluctance is particularly obvious in cases of sexual abuse where many people say that they do not want to become involved for fear of breaking up a family. That is not acceptable. In most circumstances the victims of abuse are women and girls but the number of young boys being sexually abused is increasing. This serious problem cannot be set aside.

There has been official reaction and response to the Kilkenny case because of the publicity involved. The Departments of Health or Justice should not be forced into action because of the publicity surrounding this case. I hope that shortly the Minister for Justice introduces a Bill outlining specifically the type of penalties that should be imposed.

As a public representative, I have dealt with family cases of sexual abuse and the common factor in all cases is "the poor man must have a problem". However, the victim is still a victim. This is an unfortunate and unacceptable reaction.

In conclusion, I hope the Minister will return to the House in four weeks with definite recommendations in the report and that we will have an opportunity to discuss them.

Top
Share