Children First: Protecting the Public
The recent RTE radio documentary, Blackrock Boys, is a reminder of why effective responding to retrospective disclosures of child sexual abuse matters both to Child Safeguarding, and to the wellbeing of all who have suffered child sexual abuse. Brothers Mark and David Ryan gave powerful, raw, harrowing testimony on horrendous abuse suffered in their childhood at Blackrock College. The brothers did not learn until adulthood of eachother's abuse. As many as 233 adults have now reported abuse by the Spiritan Order, naming 77 different individuals as alleged perpetrators. 57 of those relate to abuses at this school. We've been here before in Ireland. This is nothing new. And yet, o ver the last number of weeks, I've learned that despite our sickening history, key elements of Child Safeguarding legislation and policy - particularly the reporting of retrospective abuse - remain unenforceable in a wide variety of contexts in Ireland. I learned this through my attempts to progres...
