Abuse commission - Grooming claims must be backed up

CLAIMS by the Christian Brothers that solicitors had systematically organised meetings of former industrial school residents, effectively grooming them for alleged abuse cases, are mind-boggling and ought to be thoroughly investigated.

If evidence was widely contaminated, as Brother David Gibson, the Order’s provincial, told the Commission on Child Abuse, then all the facts must be put on the table.

On the face of it, the claim that groups of solicitors had copied more than 1,000 copies of RTÉ programmes and given them to former residents, is astonishing. Equally astounding is the suggestion that lists of former brothers who had worked at industrial schools were handed out at those meetings.

It would be absolutely outrageous for solicitors to behave in this manner.

But it would be no less invidious to tar the legal profession without producing evidence. Brother Gibson must come forward with hard proof of the allegations he has made.