Church must be open with abuse survivors

WITH regard to Right of Place, we are seeing a problematic lack of transparency similar to that of the Catholic Church bureaucracy, past Irish Governments, and others involved in the residential schools horror story.

This is in stark contrast to the openness of many survivors, who have had to deal with an unwillingness to believe them, fear and ridicule, intimidation and, not least, the adverse affects of what they endured.

Let it be said that those who deny, turn their backs on the story, or for whatever reason feel fearful of facing the truth, have not and will not suffer anything like the survivors themselves if they face the truth.

Right of Place and others in similar positions must be made 100% transparent and be subject to adequate oversight.

Their staff must be subject to the same oversight, and also rigorously checked for their backgrounds and expertise in this area of supporting survivors. Failure in this is an abdication of duty of care, and will inevitably lead to the totally avoidable re-traumatising of those who need all the support and nurturance that Irish society can generate.

Corneilius Crowley

South Harrow

London

England