Letter ‘underlines scale of division’

THE effectiveness of the entire Government will be in question unless a prompt solution for the investigation of institutional abuse allegations is forthcoming, a leading abuse campaigner has said.

One in Four founder Colm O’Gorman said the issue of achieving justice for those who had suffered institutional abuse in Ireland ultimately rested with the Government.

“If we can’t put in place an appropriate and reasonable investigation in a case like this, then we will really have to call into question our entire system of government,” he said.

“It’s in everyone’s interest to do this as early as possible given the circumstances that this commission is inquiring into. What we are talking about here are some of the most gross failures of the entire State.”

Speaking as the Sunday Tribune published the resignation letter of Ms Justice Mary Laffoy from the child abuse commission, Mr O’Gorman said the letter showed how unfeasible the commission in its present form had become.

“I think the letter underlines the scale of the division between the commission and the Government and it shows how disempowered Justice Laffoy felt the commission was in its ability to carry out its mandate,” he said.

SOCA spokesman John Kelly said he viewed the letter as a vindication of the organisation’s view that the Government was never going to allow the commission the independence called for by the Child Abuse Act 2000.

“However, this vindication is tempered by our concern for our fellow survivors whose trust has been trampled underfoot by the cruel deceptions of politicians and others who conspired for over three years to sell a commission they knew to be fatally flawed,” he said.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said the letter showed the Government had clearly undermined the independence of the Laffoy Commission.

“It is clear from reading the letter that the commitment of the Government to the apology issued by the Taoiseach in 1999 to victims of abuse was hollow in the extreme,” he said.

Mr Rabbitte accused the Government of hypocrisy and of crying crocodile tears for the victims of abuse while acting to undermine the commission set up to find justice for those victims.

“Rather than address the issue of resources, the Government decided to completely undermine the independence of the commission, and to begin a campaign of pretending that if the commission were left to its own devices, its work would take up to 11 years to complete,” he said.

“It is abundantly clear from Justice Laffoy’s letter that she brought the plight of elderly and vulnerable abuse victims to the attention of the Government repeatedly, and the Government reacted by seeking to limit the scope of her work.”

Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny said the letter represented a damning indictment of the Government’s competence. “The Government have clearly reneged on their responsibility to the Laffoy Commission and to the victims of abuse. They have failed to live up to their obligations in respect of the commission and have acted in such a manner, bordering on negligent, that the chairperson of the commission felt it impossible to continue to discharge her duties as originally mandated.

“This affair provides one more example of why this Government simply cannot be trusted. They make announcements, pay lip service to whatever the issue of the day is and then move on without following through on their commitments.”

Green Party leader Trevor Sargent called on the Taoiseach to remove the Department of Education and its minister, Noel Dempsey, from managerial control of the Laffoy Commission.

“The Department of Education and Science is wholly compromised in the light of certain evidence from victims of abuse which allegedly took place in institutions controlled by the same department,” he said, calling for an immediate recall of the Dáil.