Stop child abuse rot from spreading
Dry rot rears its ugly head mainly in old brick terraced buildings. It can start with the slightest of leaks unseen underneath wooden floors, behind skirting boards, unseen or ignored, by the time you realise what’s happening, your woodwork is turning to dust by a web of predatory vein-like alien creepers that sucks every last drop of moisture from timber and masonry alike. The damage is done and in the majority of cases is irreparable.
The cases of manipulative adults taking advantage of children or teenagers while in a vulnerable position has left communities shocked to the core. People are left wondering what or where next?
Visitors to Donegal or any part of this country look on in envy at the beauty of our mountains and beaches, but in doing so, do they realise that there is an ugly undercurrent that blots out completely the beauty that surrounds us and makes it an irrelevance in their lives?
It is time to get real in terms of dealing with those who seek self-gratification through paedophilia. We need judges, now more than ever, who will make sure, through sentencing, that the time must fit the crime.
If there is to be any genuine solace for the victims, whose rights were ignored and trampled upon in the most vile fashion, then likewise it is only right that the perpetrators of these acts should be denied of all basic rights that are available to all decent ordinary citizens of this state. We need a strict prison regime where there is no release dates or days out for good behaviour.
We have had our fill of being let down by those we placed our trust in, reigning from politicians to our protectors, An Garda Síochána. The Catholic Church, which I have been a member of since birth, is by far the worst. Like dry rot, abuse was ignored by clergy who should have exposed it, and covered up in all cases through fear and intimidation, by those who should have been providing protection rather than abusing it.
Unfortunately, like some of those who suffered and continue to have nightmares because of the likes of Fr Brendan Smyth or Fr Eugene Greene, is it too late to reverse the damage done to the church? But the other overriding reality is that you cannot make the mistake of tarring all with the one brush, which would be an injustice in itself.
The most important thing by far at this stage is that proper long-term counselling services and any other form of help should be made available immediately to anyone who feels that they were a victim in circumstances not of their own making where they came into contact with one of those leeches who prey on the most vulnerable in society.
J Woods
Gort an Choirce
Dun nGall
