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	Child Abuse in Irish Institutions Was 'Endemic' By Colm Heatley and Ian Guider Bloomberg May 20, 2009 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=awpbu18ZeVvg&refer=home May 20 (Bloomberg) -- Sexual abuse of children in Irish state and church-run institutions for boys was "endemic" and covered up by the clergy, according to a commission's report. "The recidivist nature of sexual abuse was known to religious authorities," the government-appointed Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse said in its report, published in Dublin today. "The risk was seen by the congregations in terms of potential for scandal and bad publicity should the abuse be disclosed. The danger to children was not taken into account." The five-volume, 2,500-page Commission Report was published amid angry scenes as victims demonstrated outside a press conference demanding copies. The document is the result of almost 10 years of investigation into beatings and rapes at orphanages, schools and hospitals from the 1930s until the 1990s. The inquiry heard confidential testimony from more than 1,000 people who had been in 216 institutions. "The schools investigated revealed a substantial level of sexual abuse of boys in care that extended over a range from improper touching and fondling to rape with violence," according to the report. Corporal punishment in girls' schools was "pervasive, severe, arbitrary and unpredictable." More than 90 percent of witnesses who gave evidence to the commission's confidential committee reported being physically abused. Around half of the witnesses reported sexual abuse. 'Abuse and Neglect' "These children lived under a regime of physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect," Meave Lewis, executive director of One in Four, a victims' lobby group, told reporters. "Even put in the context of the harsh child-rearing practices of the time, it is really shocking." The Catholic Church has been grappling in recent years with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy in countries including Ireland and the U.S. Priests have been jailed and defrocked while the church has faced criticism for covering up the allegations by moving pedophile priests from parish to parish. "We are deeply sorry for the hurt caused," the Christian Brothers in Ireland said in an e-mailed statement today. "We are ashamed and saddened that many who complained of abuse were not listened to. We acknowledge and regret that our responses to physical and sexual abuse failed to consider the long term psychological effects on children." Pope Benedict XVI said he was "outraged" by the sex abuse scandal on a trip to the U.S. last year. "No words of mine can describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse," he said. 'Failure to Intervene' The Irish commission was set up by former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who in 1999 apologized to abuse victims on behalf of the state for a "collective failure to intervene, to detect their pain, to come to their rescue." Today's report said Ireland's government should have used more of its "ample legal powers" over church-run schools to impose changes. "The deferential and submissive attitude of the Department of Education toward the congregations compromised its ability to carry out its statutory duty of inspection and monitoring of schools," according to the document. In one case, the department "ignored" complaints about a serial sexual and physical abuser who taught in Ireland for 40 years and was convicted in the 1980s. Parents attempted to challenge his behavior "but he was persistently protected by the diocesan and school authorities and moved from school to school." 'Frequently Hungry' Children in some schools were "frequently hungry" and some witnesses who gave evidence to the inquiry "spoke of scavenging for food from waste bins," according to the commission, which recommended building a memorial that would be inscribed with Ahern's apology. The inquiry has cost about 60.8 million euros ($83.7 million). In 2002, the Catholic Church in Ireland agreed to pay 128 million euros to a compensation fund for victims of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. A separate redress board has paid out hundreds of millions of euros in compensation to more than 10,000 victims of abuse while in state schools. "When you take people into state-regulated, statutory system or care, whether it is right or wrong to subject them to such detention, you owe them a duty to take proper care of them," Judge Sean Ryan, chairman of the commission, said at the publication today. "It cannot be an answer to a complaint about abuse or inadequate care that the people would have been worse off if you hadn't taken them in." To contact the reporters on this story: Colm Heatley in Belfast at cheatley@bloomberg.net; Ian Guider in Dublin at iguider@bloomberg.net.
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