It has today been revealed by the Child Abuse Commission that:
*Abuse was 'endemic' in boy's Catholic institutions
*Safety of children in general in Catholic institutions was not a consideration
*216 Catholic and state institutions involved
*More than 800 Catholic individuals identified as abusers
*No Catholic abusers will be prosecuted
*Children 'corrupted' by sexual activity were punished
The Child Abuse Commission detailed a catalogue of disturbing and chronic sexual, physical and emotional abuse inflicted on thousands of disadvantaged, neglected and abandoned children by both religious and lay staff since the 1930s.
The report identified more than 800 individuals as physically and/or sexually abusing witnesses while they were children. No abusers will be prosecuted as a result of the inquiry.
The dangers to the children caused by bringing them into contact with sexual predators were not taken into account, the inquiry found. The bad publicity that would result if the scandals broke was a consideration in the cover-up.
The report found: 'The risk (to children), however, was seen by the congregations in terms of the potential scandal and bad publicity should the abuse be disclosed.'
Judge Sean Ryan, who chaired the Commission, concluded that when confronted with evidence of sex abuse, religious authorities responded by transferring the sex offenders to another location, where in many instances they were free to abuse again.
Justice Sean Ryan launches the report at the Conrad Hotel in Dublin today - but refuses to take questions from journalists
'There was evidence that such men took up teaching positions sometimes within days of receiving dispensations because of serious allegations or admissions of sexual abuse,' the report said.
'The safety of children in general was not a consideration.'
Sexual abuse was endemic in boys' schools while in girls' schools, children were subjected to predatory abuse by male employees, visitors and while on outside placements.
In addition to being sex assaults and being hit and beaten, witnesses described other forms of abuse such as being flogged, kicked and otherwise physically assaulted, scalded, burned and held under water.
Abuse was rarely reported to the State authorities but on the rare occasion the Department of Education was informed, it colluded with the religious orders in the culture of silence.
The Department generally dismissed or ignored sexual abuse complaints and never brought them to the attention of the Garda.
'At best, the abusers were moved but nothing was done about the harm done to the child. At worst, the child was blamed and seen as corrupted by the sexual activity, and was punished severely,' the report stated.
Key steps in struggle to confront child abuse in the Catholic Church
June 1994
Catholic priest Brendan Smyth pleads guilty to 17 counts of indecently assaulting five girls and two boys in Belfast. His order, the Norbertines, spent decades shuttling him among Irish and American parishes and harbored Smyth from British arrest.
November 1994
Taoiseach Albert Reynolds resigns, and his government collapses, amid claims that his attorney general colluded with church authorities to delay the British extradition demand for Smyth. It shatters the taboo against pursuing criminal charges against priests.
July 1995
Former altar boy Andrew Madden becomes first person to speak publicly about abuse by a priest. Madden says the Church paid him €35,000 to keep quiet about three years of assaults by Fr Ivan Payne. Archbishop Desmond Connell denies the deal until Madden provides documentary proof of church payoff. Case spurs hundreds to pursue civil lawsuits against church authorities.
January 1996
Panel of Irish Catholic leaders instruct bishops to tell senior police officers ‘without delay’ about all suspected sex-abuse cases. Some bishops continue to suppress such information over the coming decade.
February 1996
Dear Daughter, a documentary shown on RTÉ details abuse suffered by Christine Buckley and others at St Vincent's Industrial School, Goldenbridge, Inchicore, Dublin.
July 1997
After serving prison term in Northern Ireland, Smyth is extradited south and pleads guilty to 74 counts of sexually abusing 20 boys and girls between 1958 and 1993. He dies of a heart attack one month into 12 year sentence.
January 1998
Payne is convicted in Dublin on 14 counts of sexually abusing eight boys aged 11 to 14. He serves only four years in prison.
March 1999
Fr Sean Fortune commits suicide in prison while awaiting trial on 66 criminal charges of molesting and raping 29 boys in the southeast Ferns diocese. One Fortune victim, former altar boy Colm O'Gorman, launches victims support group One in Four. It lobbies government for investigations into abuse cases, particularly in Ferns.
April 1999
Groundbreaking documentary series ‘States of Fear’ by RTÉ exposes abuse of children in church-run workhouses, reformatories and orphanages since the 1940s.
May 1999
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern issues ‘long overdue apology’ to all those abused in church-run institutions and vows to establish a financial compensation board and a fact-finding commission into extent of abuse. Ms Justice Mary Laffoy is appointed to head the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
May 2000
Government gives investigatory powers to Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse to measure causes and extent of unchecked child abuse in institutions from 1937 onward.
July 2001
The deadline for complaints of abuse to be made to the Commission. Some 3,149 people ask to testify.
April 2002
Ferns Bishop Brendan Comiskey becomes first, and only, church figure to resign because of failures to stop abuse. He admits he did too little to stop pedophile priests.
December 2002
Government establishes board to pay compensation to people who suffered sexual, physical or mental abuse in church-run institutions. Payouts require claimants to give up their right to sue church and state authorities. Taxpayers, not the church, cover bulk of cost.
September 2003
High Court Judge Mary Laffoy resigns complaining that the Department of Education, which holds most records on church-run institutions, is obstructing her investigation into child abuse. Her successor, Justice Sean Ryan, says probe must severely limit the number of abuse cases it considers or it will never finish.
April 2004
A Vatican modernizer and diplomat, Diarmuid Martin, replaces Connell as Dublin archbishop. Pledges full cooperation with state and police in exposing past cover-ups of abuse and protecting children in future.
June 2004
Judge Ryan announces the Commission will not name abusers unless they have been convicted. The Christian Brothers religious order drops legal actions against the Commission.
July 2004
The Christian Brothers testify at a public hearing that files only recently discovered in its Rome-based archive show evidence of 30 canonical trials of brothers based on proven incidents of child sexual abuse against boys in their care from the 1930s onwards.
October 2005
Investigation led by retired Supreme Court justice finds that church, police and state authorities did too little to stop sexual abuse of hundreds of children by 21 priests in Ferns. Report says Ferns bishops sheltered and promoted priests known to have raped altar boys and molested schoolgirls on an altar.
December 2005
Residential Institutions Redress Board says more than 14,000 people who claim to have suffered childhood abuse in church-run institutions have filed claims for state payouts.
December 2008
Board says it has paid nearly 12,000 victims average of €64,230 each, about 2,000 claims remain. Cost including lawyers' fees expected to reach €1.1bn.
May 20, 2009
Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse unveils 2,575-page report into thousands of child abuse cases in institutions. Two more reports into the church's protection of sex-predator priests in the Dublin archdiocese and the southwest diocese of Cloyne may be published later this year.
This report was taken from today's Daily Mail and it serves to illustrate perfectly why the British People's Party campaign for capital punishment for nonce scum and sexual deviants to be reintroduced. This is an absolute abomination and whilst I hope there is some sort of apologetic retort from the Catholic church as a result of the report, I seriously doubt this will happen because like this case proves they've done for several decades, they will simply elect to now do exactly the same by burying their evil heads, though sadly not in shame.
Hang paedophile scum. Reintroduce capital punishment for nonces.