Dempsey rules out transfer of abuse inquiry

EDUCATION Minister Noel Dempsey faces further criticism from victim support groups after he ruled out transferring responsibility for the Child Abuse Commission from his department.

In his first reaction to the highly critical report by the inquiry’s former chairperson Ms Justice Mary Laffoy, Mr Dempsey said he did not accept that his department hampered or failed to co-operate with the commission.

Acknowledging that there were delays and difficulties with the progress of the inquiry, the Minister said they had resulted from all parties being involved in “a learning curve” caused by the ambition of the legislation used to establish the commission.

Ms Justice Laffoy, who resigned last month over frustration at the attitude of the department and religious orders to the inquiry, strongly criticised the level of co-operation provided by Mr Dempsey’s officials.

However, speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme yesterday, Mr Dempsey dismissed calls from the Opposition and victim support groups for the department of the Taoiseach to assume responsibility for the commission as “totally irrelevant”.

“What it would do would be the exact opposite to what I understand the victim groups want,” said Mr Dempsey. He claimed the Government’s principal desire was to bring closure on the issue for the victims as quickly and effectively as possible.

Mr Dempsey said the transfer of responsibility for the commission to a department other than his own would only add to delays which have beset the commission since its establishment in 2000.

However, Labour education spokesperson, Jan O’Sullivan described the minister’s reaction as “a feeble response to the unprecedented criticism of his department”. She claimed Mr Dempsey appeared to be in denial over the whole issue.

“The minister refused to accept that Justice Laffoy did not get the level of co-operation to which they were entitled and the best he could offer was the delays were a ‘cause of annoyance to the commission’.

“Mr Dempsey seems to have no appreciation of the seriousness of the criticisms,” she added.

Fine Gael education spokesperson Olywn Enright said the Minister still did not appear to accept any responsibility for the numerous criticisms directed by Ms Justice Laffoy at his department.

“Ultimately he must take responsibility for the failure of his officials to adopt a constructive approach to the commission,” said Ms Enright. She claimed a new review related to the Commission which was announced by Mr Dempsey yesterday was “merely another sideshow”.

The British Queen’s Counsel, Matthias Kelly is to conduct the fourth review of the inquiry which will specifically examine how the department’s co-operation with the commission.

The support group Survivors of Child Abuse said it was abundantly clear to everyone following the publication of Ms Justice Laffoy’s report that it was inappropriate for the Department of Education to have responsibility for the commission due to its “secret indemnity deal” with the religious orders.

“The commission has basically gone beyond repair. The only way any trust or confidence can be put in place for the first time is for the department to be totally removed from the process,” said SOCA spokesperson, John Kelly.

He claimed the horrific reports on the Baltimore Fisheries School highlighted how the commission could never have provided the same conclusive findings if it had limited the examination of all cases on an individual basis as is being proposed.

One in Four also expressed surprise that Mr Dempsey did not appear to address any of the specific issues raised by the Laffoy report.