Sex abuse - Tip of the iceberg

HARDLY noticed in the latest crime data, the incidence of sex with minors rose to 106 last year compared with 82 cases in 2008.

So it is worrying to learn that these statistics may be the tip of an iceberg according to CARI, an organisation that provides support for abused children.

Listed among offences including rapes and sexual assaults, the rape of a minor is categorised as defilement of a boy or girl under the age of 17, a definition that is too narrow according to the Law Reform Commission. The commission’s call for a more general offence must be acted upon.

Equally, it would be folly to dismiss the warning from CARI when one considers that in 2007 out of 2,300 cases of child sexual abuse reported to the HSE, no fewer than 719 were confirmed.

Moreover, in the ongoing child abuse crisis besetting the Catholic church, the cover up of child abuse by priests in the Diocese of Dublin exposed in the Murphy report may also prove to be the tip of an iceberg.