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	'Rape in 1975 Is Rape Today' Drogheda Independent March 17, 2010 http://www.drogheda-independent.ie/news/rape-in-1975-is-rape-today-2101924.html IRELAND -- A NORTHEAST victim of notorious paedophile priest Brendan Smyth has called for Cardinal Sean Brady to resign from his position as head of the Irish Catholic Church. 'Samantha' spoke on the LMFM programme Loosetalk about the horrific rape and abuse she suffered at the hands of Fr. Smyth in the 1970s. ' This guy (Smyth) raped and abused me, he took everything that should have been precious to me.' She said that the fact Cardinal Brady knew in 1975 about the claims of abuse meant he was 'directly involved' in the trauma that she and other children had suffered. 'He was the adult, we were the children in this. He had information about a man who was going around raping and abusing children, and he did nothing to stop it.' She said that her abuse began in 1974, and for five years after that suffered the most brutal forms of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. It emerged this week that other children who were abused by Fr. Smyth made statements at an interview which took place in the Friary in Dundalk in 1975. Cardinal Brady, who was then an ordinary priest and secondary school teacher reportedly took notes of the statements made by the young children. 'He says now he did his job because he passed it on to his superior, but he did not do his job as an adult to protect us.' She said that if the Cardinal's then superior had not acted it was then up to him (Brady) to do something to protect vulnerable children. Samantha called on the Cardinal to step down 'but only if his conscience tells him to' adding that she did not want him to be forced out. 'I want him to stand in front of me and say 'I am really sorry that you were raped and abused and that your teenage years were taken away, because I didn't do my job as an adult.' 'Rape in 1975 is the same as rape today. I, and God knows how many other children, should have been saved from the torment we go through everyday.' 'If he doesn't think this is a resigning matter, then he's not worth the air.'
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