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, over 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 progress my own concerns regarding non-responsiveness to a disclosure made in writing to a Principal Clinical Psychologist in UCD that included clear and unequivocal naming of childhood sexual abuse.A final attempt to resolve responding to these matters by the University failed just last month. 

Below is an open letter to Professor Colin Scott, Vice President of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, College Principal of the School of Social Sciences and Law and Professor of EU Regulation and Governance in the UCD Sutherland School of Law. 

Professor Scott wrote to me on October 17th, 2022 to let me know that the University did not feel that further follow up would be helpful due to the "deeply distressing" nature of "allegations" being made against staff and "amplified on social media", letting me know that UCD would not engage further with me on these matters.

There has never been any suggestion made by UCD that a disclosure of child sexual abuse was not made to University Staff or that it was responded to in line with national guidance. A copy of the disclosure was sent to Professor Scott on 11th September of this year.

Blackrock Boys is currently available to replay here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/1333550-blackrock-boys

November 12th, 2022

 

Dear Professor Scott

It’s an unseasonably warm November afternoon. Ireland is beating Fiji in the Rugby while I clear out a corner kitchen cupboard, listening to Liam O’Brien introduce this week’s Documentary on One, “Blackrock Boys”.

I can’t do justice now, as I write to you, to the depth and nuance of the telling of Mark and David Ryan’s harrowing story of abuse in this documentary. There are no words I could share to match the integrity and complexity of how it touches off and evokes so many other stories, experiences and memories of child sexual abuse – so I’m not even going to try to.

What I am going to say is this.

Towards the end of the documentary, Mark speaks of a moment watching an interview with a fellow survivor on morning TV that he finally knew he needed help to heal.  

He was 55 years old at that time.

He had lived with these experiences without support for over 40 years - not even knowing he shared those experiences with his own brother.

Today, we know that at least 57 adults have come forward to disclose historical abuses at Blackrock College - experiences they carried alone for decades, unaware they had never been on their own.

And so, I am choosing to write. I know that it falls to me, as much as it unfortunately fell to Mark and David, to add my voice to the telling of how we respond, and still fail to respond, to survivors in this country.

When we hear people speak of abuses carried out in the 1960’s or 1970’s, many members of the public may imagine that things have changed since those times, that as a country we prioritise Child Safeguarding differently now, that we have collectively committed to working together to ensure that these events will never be repeated.

However, just last month, on the 17th of October 2022, you wrote the following to me:

“With respect to your new and specific claim that UCD has breached duties under the Children First Act 2015 I wish to reassure you that the University takes its responsibilities under the Act very seriously. The University has a detailed Child Safeguarding Statement which it implements. I have reviewed the materials you have sent to me and taken advice and we think that neither the material you submitted, nor information available in the University, demonstrates breach of the applicable duties to report historic child sexual abuse. In that regard, the disclosure made by you in 2016, as you have I think pointed out in some of your correspondence, pre-dated the commencement of the 2015 Act…

… Your allegations, amplified by your repeating them on social media, are deeply distressing to the staff involved. … and so having regard to the rights and interests of both you as the complainant, and colleagues in UCD who are respondents to your complaints, I do not think it appropriate to follow up further on the matters that you are raising. I recognise that you remain dissatisfied, but do not think further follow up will be helpful. I recognise also the distress you have experienced from your engagement with UCD and it is important that you take your own steps to address your own needs in this respect.

I am sorry that we are not able to progress your complaints any further. I ask you now not to contact any employee of the University about these matters and also to desist from posting on social media allegations against UCD employees. UCD will not engage with you further on any of these matters. “

Based on my prior professional training, I was so upset, baffled and taken aback by the response above, particularly comments that materials shared which clearly and unequivocally detailed Child Sexual Abuse (among other adversity) did not constitute a breach of Child Safeguarding guidance or legislation, I took the matter to a compliance unit in Túsla for advice. To my surprise and horror, they were able to inform me that technically, yes, you are right. 

I learned that while in Túsla’s eyes, all professionals now designated as mandatory reporters have a legal, and moral, obligation to progress retrospective disclosures of historical sexual abuse, both legally under the Children First Act of 2015 and ethically pursuant to prior national Professional Guidance (Children First 1999; 2011), this is technically unenforceable under the law.

Why? 

1. Universities are not deemed a relevant service under the Children First Act of 2015
2. There is no specific sanction included in the Children First Act with respect to mandatory reporters who fail to report historical sexual abuse
3. There is no body in the State which can monitor or respond to complaints when non-registered individuals fail to make a report on a retrospective disclosure of child sexual abuse. This falls to professional bodies. However, the accrediting body for Psychology in Ireland, the Psychological Society of Ireland, is a voluntary body and does not take complaints with respect to its members. At this point in time, “Psychologist” is not a protected title, and Psychologists are neither independently registered nor regulated as a Health Profession.

And so, here we are.

And what I want to say to you about all the above, Professor Scott, is this.

You are the Vice President for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion University College Dublin.

You are College Principal for the College of Social Sciences and Law, a Department that educates young people and students of all backgrounds in the following areas:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Social Policy
• Social Justice
• Social Work
• Law
• Education
• Human Rights
• Gender Studies

I have no doubt that the students you serve, and the members of the public they hope to serve – good, decent, moral people who pay the taxes that pay your wages - expect you to act in their best interests in addressing how the University would respond to historical disclosures of Child Sexual Abuse.

I believe they would wish that you would not merely act in line with the letter of the law, but in line with its spirit.

The spirit of that law, clearly, is not to protect the reputation of UCD or any other corporate entity, nor indeed, to guard against any member of University staff facing a complaint intended to support them to reflect on their practice for their own benefit, and the benefit of those they teach, and serve.  

The spirit of that law is to prevent people like Mark and David, like my father (also a survivor of clerical sexual abuse), and yes, me, from believing for decades that what they had experienced was so unspeakable, so shameful that speaking up would cause such harm or distress to others it would be better to stay quiet: to bury the harm

The spirit of that law is to break down the very web of silence perpetrators invoke in their targets and depend upon to maintain their campaign of abuse: a silence that enables perpetrators to offend and reoffend across person, place and time, ensnaring survivors and leading to the kind of heartbreak that has pervaded our airwaves this week – stories of brothers, sisters, friends, good people, resilient people, alienated from eachother, from loving parents, from themselves, through no fault of their own while perpetrators continue their abuse unchecked.

As you have asked me not to post allegations about UCD employees on social media and told me that UCD will not engage further on these matters, as an alumna, I will respect that request here by not adding to any details previously shared in the public domain, nor indeed asking for anything further from you.

However, in light of the powerful testimony of Mark and David Ryan, I must respectfully decline your request to remain silent with respect to my own unsatisfactory experiences of disclosing sexual abuse at UCD as I consider comment at this time a matter of public interest.

As anyone who cares about the future of Child Safeguarding in Ireland knows, it is in breaking the silence, that we break the cycle of Childhood Sexual Abuse, and secure a better and safer future for us all.

 

Kind Regards,

Fiona O’Neill

UCD Alumna, Grad Dip Mindfulness Based Interventions