Department of Education's role in Child Abuse Commission untenable - Greens

national | rights, freedoms and repression | press release Friday January 30, 2004 13:23 by Green Party

Strong heed should be taken of reasons Laffoy resigned - Gogarty

Green Party Education Spokesperson Paul Gogarty calls for major changes in the way Child Abuse Commission is operated following Justice Laffoy's final report

(Visit www.childabusecommission.ie)

Green Party Education Spokesperson Paul Gogarty TD today described the final
report of Ms Justice Mary Laffoy as a "damning critique" of the Department of
Education's ability to adequately deal with the sensitive issue of Child Abuse
in residential institutions. He warned that continuing involvement by the
Department would seriously compromise the Child Abuse Commission's ability to
gain all the facts necessary to find out the truth of what happened to survivors
and victims of abuse.

"The Government needs to take serious heed of the reasons Ms Justice Laffoy
resigned. It also needs to act on the recommendations made by Mr Justice Ryan
and introduce the legislative amendments and resourcing required to allow the
Commission to resume its investigative hearings without further delay. The
proposed legislation must be fully debated in the Oireachtas and should include
an immediate transfer of responsibility for the issue from the Department of
Education to another, less implicated department, such as the Department of the
Taoiseach," said Gogarty.

The report by Ms Justice Laffoy claimed, among other things that the history of
the Commission since its establishment was that it was "devoid of any real
independent capacity to perform its statutory functions", and its ability to
perform its functions has been "jeopardized" by a failure of the organs of State
to resolve issues of policy and resources. Deputy Gogarty also highlighted
Laffoy's criticism of the Department of Education and Science's level of
cooperation in disclosing documents to the Commission.

Deputy Gogarty said that the same difficulties would be faced by Mr Justice Ryan
unless the Government learned from the Laffoy reports and belatedly provided the
resources to enable the various strands of the Commission to Inquire into Child
Abuse to operate quickly and effectively, while allowing survivors to achieve
closure by getting their stories told, or by having their abuse investigated
within a reasonable time period.

"Last October in the Dáil, following the resignation of Ms Justice Laffoy, I
stated that history would judge the Government and the religious unkindly when
the truth finally emerged. We can still live up to our responsibilities and do
the right thing. Justice must be done and must be done transparently. The
Government is the body with the greatest power to ensure that this justice
emerges," concluded Gogarty.

ENDS

Paul Gogarty TD 087-2752489 / 01-6219966
Steve Rawson, Press office: 01-6184088