Child abusers depend on silence of others, says president

Child abusers depend on people’s silence to get away with their evil crimes, President Mary McAleese warned today.

Even though the President did not mention the Roscommon incest case directly, she said society was occasionally reminded of its own failures and the dangers facing children.

“Every so often a dreadful case reveals to us a realm of failure and of progress still to be made and importantly a realm of suffering still being endured by children,” the President said.

Ms McAleese, who met staff at the Children’s Law Centre in Belfast, said children relied on others to protect and defend them.

“On the days when we read of the failures of families, of parents, of carers, of communities, of child care and child protection services – on days when we acknowledge that children, who depended on us to look out for them, slipped through visible gaps – we are brought close despair,” the President said.

“Giving into despair is not an option.

“It does not change one whit the reality that children, though they do not always know it, are depending on us to be their champions, their advocates, their voices, their defenders.”

The President added: “Those who abuse them in any way, subtle or brutish, rely on our silence, our give-uppery to create the landscape in which they can operate with impunity.”

Health chiefs have launched an independent inquiry into the horrendous catalogue of abuse meted out to the six children by their mother between 1998 and 2004 in a squalid infested bungalow. It is expected to take six months.

She pleaded guilty to incest, sexual abuse and neglect of her children and was jailed for seven years.

It is understood local health workers had been aware of the family for several years before the period of abuse, had attempted to intervene and take the children into care but failed to prevent the neglect.

President McAleese claimed society must have the proper legal and administrative supports to ensure communities intervene at the first sign of abuse.

“A caring cradling starts with but does not end with a loving home,” the President said.

“It needs an administrative and legal infrastructure that offers accessible and timely protection to children who are at risk.”

Earlier, Ms McAleese attended a number of engagements in Belfast including a visit to a cross-community group in the Shankhill area of the city where she met representatives of the Open Hands outreach centre.

The President also attended Sullivan Upper School in Holywood, Co Down before meeting Lord Mayor of Belfast Tom Hartley.