Hopefully, we can finally learn from the past

IN the heat and outrage triggered by the publication of the Report on the Abuse of Children in Catholic Institutions, there needs to be some reality check.

There is no denying or mitigating the brutality and cruelty visited on these unfortunate children but there must be some sense that these are manifestations of an equally flawed and degenerate society. What we have uncovered in the religious institutions is the ugly, visible, above water view of a far greater and more pervasive moral sickness.

It is comforting to project evil away from ourselves and the society we were during the decades when these crimes against the innocent and helpless were committed. Yet these institutions existed because children were sent to them by families, government agencies and court judges. They were expected to care for these children without adequate resources and with little or no supervision. The case for accountability cannot be confined to the religious orders alone or arguably in the main.

Perhaps, there was as much ignorance as indifference behind this neglect. The ethos of the era regarded behaviour which we classify as criminal as no more than immoral. It must furthermore be accepted that it is naïve to believe that the only abuse of children which took place in the period of time covered in the report was confined to religious institutions.

It is accepted that most abuse of children today takes place within the family milieu and it is certain that the same applied in other eras. These victims have no where to go for redress or retribution. There are many children suffering abuse and gross neglect in their own homes because our social services are failing them.

Every time a serious lapse in care is uncovered there is a review followed by an upgrading of supervisory controls which are as often as not followed for lack of resources.

So while focus on the past and indeed ongoing suffering of the now adult victims of abuse is appropriate it is also appropriate that we focus on how we treat our own vulnerable people and make their care our priority. We cannot change the past but we can learn from it – if we care enough.

Margaret Hickey

Castleowen

Blarney

Co Cork