Support groups seek way forward after Ferns
The support group, One in Four, will hold the second in a series of public meetings in Cork tomorrow. The meeting at The Commons Inn, Mallow Road, will also debate the concerns that exist in other dioceses over sexual abuse.
Group director Colm O’Gorman said the statutory inquiry into clerical sexual abuse in the Archdiocese of Dublin and an audit of child protection practice in all Irish Roman Catholic dioceses are an important response in the wake of the Ferns Report. “The Dublin Inquiry will be very significant. It will be hugely so, enormous even. Ferns showed us the purpose of these inquiries. In Ferns we thought we had six abusive clergy. It turned out we had 26. In Dublin, we’ve heard of 67 priests. The reality could be far greater.”
One in Four will be joined at the Cork session by other professionals working with survivors of abuse. They hope that survivors will also attend, as will interested members of the public who have opinions on the way forward for voluntary and statutory bodies.
“We organised these meetings because we need to get out and tell people more about our organisation; listen to different views from people on what we need to do now and move forward. We will be feeding our information back to the Government.”
Other meetings are planned in Galway, Derry and other areas where abuse cases have come to light. Dates for these sessions will be planned in the new year. In the meantime, One in Four says it is battling to cope with demand for its service.
“Our waiting list for psychotherapy has grown from 24 to 125 since Ferns.
We are trying to refer people to other services from all over the country.
From January to September, we saw 380 people.
“Since the Ferns Report, we have had 350 new cases referred to us. We’ve taken all of their details but have had to tell a lot of people that we can’t guarantee that we will see them until the New Year.”
He said the Ferns Report and the abuse it uncovered highlights the clear argument for small, locally based inquiries. “Ferns took over three years. What we absolutely believe is that there should be more examination in areas where there are concerns and more inquiries if those concerns merit one. But we can’t have inquiries just for the sake of public therapy.”
* One in Four 01 6624070 or www.oneinfour.org.
