Child abuse report - Let this be a catalyst to end pretence

THE shock, outrage and deep anger that greeted Mr Justice Seán Ryan and the Child Abuse Commission’s (CAC) report was natural and absolutely justified.

At this point it is tempting to say that those involved – the tortured children, the broken adults – were finally vindicated and entitled to feel especially outraged but the reality is that we can’t.

We were – and are – all involved and a good part of the anger provoked by the report is a belated recognition of that. We were not angry enough soon enough but there’s not much point in being outraged about that now. We are, if we have any sense of right and wrong left, angry because we failed ourselves and much, much more importantly, we failed the brutalised victims who begged for our help.