Proposed Restorative (Redress) Scheme for Former Residents of Mother and Baby Homes

 

Minister for Children, Roderic O'Gorman

OAK Consulting

c/o Department of Children, Equality and Youth

Block 1, Miesian Plaza

50-58 Baggot St Lower

Dublin 2

With reference to the "Restorative Recognition Scheme" I note that "Submissions are being invited from former residents, their families, advocacy and representative groups and other interested parties." I am definitely an "interested party". I was a De La Salle Brother from 1966 to 1969 and details of my background are in the article "The Reason Why: Brother Maurice Kirk and I" on my Blog IrishSalem.Blogspot.com. I believe that nearly every one of my former colleagues who worked in an Industrial School or similar institution was accused of child abuse and if I had done so myself, I'm sure I would have been accused also. Hate Speech from the media plus the almost evidence-free payouts from the previous Redress Board, encouraged people to lie. I am therefore concerned that there is going to be a repetition of the previous fiasco.

(A) Richard Webster regarding our previous Redress Scheme

I corresponded for years with the late UK cultural historian Richard Webster on the issue of false allegations and the Irish Redress Board. I gave him the material regarding Ireland that he included in his book "The Secret of Bryn Estyn - The Making of a Modern Witch Hunt" - a work that mainly concerns a child abuse panic in North Wales but also material on similar bouts of hysteria in other countries. (His book is mainly about lying attacks on secular child care personnel but he sees the link with similar attacks on the Catholic Church).  He published the Irish material separately on his website in an essay "States of Fear, the Redress Board and Ireland's Folly". Unfortunately Richard Webster died in 2011 aged only 60. His friends maintained the website RichardWebster.net until recently but it's no longer available (although his Blog is). Fortunately I copied the text onto my old website and I have linked to that. 

The data regarding Ireland in the book mainly concerns the allegations made by Pat Rabbitte, and the late Christine Buckely and Mary Raftery.

I also gave Richard the material concerning the Redress Board on which he based his essay "The Christmas Spirit in Ireland" dated 24 December 2005. Again I copied it onto my old website IrishSalem.com My contribution to that essay mainly consisted of the the statistics and the quote with which Richard ended it: 

With the standard of proof dangerously close to zero it is clearly, for the moment at least, almost impossible to be refused compensation. As the former bank robber James Gantley put it a year ago, the Redress Board is 'The Good Ship Lollipop, lots of dosh for everyone'.

The Secret of Bryn Estyn was published at the beginning of 2005 but was 9 years in the making.  In the book  Richard wrote that: 

Once again it must immediately be acknowledged that some of the allegations which have been made against Roman Catholic priests – possibly the majority of the early ones – are genuine. Others, including a number based on bizarre recovered memories, are quite evidently false.

But in the later essay he said: 

But it is also likely to be the case that a very large number of the claims received [by the Redress Board], perhaps as many as 90%, would prove, if it were possible to investigate them fully, entirely false. If that is indeed the case then the Irish government has committed a protracted act of folly on a scale unprecedented in the entire history of sexual abuse compensation schemes. [my emphasis]

 I hope that I contributed to his change of emphasis! 

(B) My Testimony to the Ryan Commission re False Allegations

I gave evidence to the Ryan Commission on my own behalf and as a member of the group "Let Our Voices Emerge" that represented victims of false allegations. I had a letter in the Irish Examiner on 7 November 2011 "Ryan Report Did Not Deal with False Allegations"

that summarizes our experience. 

My own testimony concerned false allegations of child murder - mainly targeting the Christian Brothers but also against the Sisters of Mercy. An updated version of my testimony is contained in my article "Blood Libel in Ireland - directed against Catholics not Jews"  The same kind of allegations have been made against the Bon Secours Sisters in Tuam (and Good Shepherd nuns etc) - except they are supposed to have starved children to death rather than beaten them to death!

In that connection, I also contributed to Hermann Kelly's 2007 book "Kathy's Real Story: A Culture of False Allegations Exposed" which deals mainly with fake abuse "survivor" Kathy O'Beirne but also goes into the culture of hysteria that made her own book "Kathy's Story: A Childhood Hell Inside the Magdalen Laundries" into a best-seller in 2005. I contributed to the second part of Mr. Kelly's book and especially to the section he which he discusses claims that the Christian Brothers had been responsible for the deaths of boys in their care. Because many of these claims refer to periods when no boy died of ANY cause(!), I coined the phrase "Murder of the Undead". Since Hermann Kelly is more moderate than I, he uses the subheading "Funerals of the Undead"  in his discussion of this issue! 

(C) History Seminar on Tuam Children's Home etc

This History Seminar was held in Galway on in October 2020 and - apart from myself - it featured Eugene Jordan, recently the President of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society and Brian Nugent ,author of  @Tuam Babies: A Critical look at the Tuam Children's Home Scandal. A major topic was the claim that the Bon Secours and other nuns allowed children to starve to death. These allegations were based on a (deliberate?) misunderstanding of the medical term "Marasmus". (The Final Report of the Commission on Mothers and Baby Homes later confirmed that Marasmus on a Death Certificate did not mean death by wilful neglect.)

In my own lecture, I quoted from a crazy article by Emer O'Kelly in the Sunday Independent on 8 June 2014 "Tuam Babies Cry Not For Justice But For Vengeance" that opens with the following:

Seventy years ago, on the orders of a maniac, little children and babies were herded into barren camps in Germany and occupied Poland by men in black uniforms. They were starved to death in those camps; sometimes they had hideous medical experiments carried out upon them while alive, so hideous the silence of death was probably merciful. And when they died, their little bodies were thrown into huge pits. Because they were scum: Jewish scum.

In the course of the article Emer O'Kelly trice denounces the Good Shepherd Sisters  i.e. the wrong nuns!

Similar thuggish articles appeared in other newspapers (including the Sunday World) and obviously affected former residents. In my "Open Letter to Archbishop Michael Neary regarding Tuam Home" I quoted one of them (regarding the Good Shepherd Home in New Ross in 1964) : 

I saw a baby in a nun’s arms and blood dripping along the floor. I saw another nun standing with a shovel in her hand. I was a 12 year old. I knew they were going out to do something, or dig a hole for that child but nobody would listen to me.

This was published in the Sunday World on 29 June 2014. Earlier that same month Fr Brian D’Arcy had an  article  entitled “Fr Brian: Baby Graves are Our Greatest Crime” that includes the following:

“When I first heard the news that more than 800 babies were buried in what was formerly a septic tank I was astonished – because initially I thought it happened in some famine-stricken country today. Then I thought I was hearing about Nazi Germany….

Please note that part C of my article "Deaths of Children in Mother and Baby Care Homes" is entitled "Commission Acknowledges Existence of False Allegations!" and includes the Commission's conclusion that "A number of witnesses gave evidence that was clearly incorrect. This contamination probably occurred because of meetings with other residents and inaccurate media coverage" [my emphasis]

(D) SUMMARY

I had intended to write more but today 31 March 2021 is the deadline for submissions. I may send additional material as an Appendix later tonight. To summarise my concerns I will repeat the above quotation from Richard Webster's 2005 essay "The Christmas Spirit in Ireland":

But it is also likely to be the case that a very large number of the claims received [by the Redress Board], perhaps as many as 90%, would prove, if it were possible to investigate them fully, entirely false. If that is indeed the case then the Irish government has committed a protracted act of folly on a scale unprecedented in the entire history of sexual abuse compensation schemes.

I am concerned to ensure that Minister for Children, Equality and Youth, Roderic O'Gorman does not repeat this "protracted act of folly" !

[ I note that "submissions received will be subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 and may also be published as part of a final report on the Restorative Recognition Scheme." I am publishing my submission on my Blog IrishSalem.blogspot.com . You may find it easier to access the links via the Blog rather than the email! ]

Best wishes

Rory Connor

11 Lohunda Grove

Clonsilla

Dublin 15

Submissions

10:32 PM 

to me

Dear Rory

I wish to acknowledge receipt of your written submission which we will take into consideration when compiling our report.

With my thanks and kind regards

Mary Lou

Dear Mary Lou

Thanks a lot. Before clock strikes midnight I'm sending you links to two articles I wrote regarding Richard Webster after his death (Appendix 1) and a link to his Blog that is still online (Appendix 2). Both have material on Redress Boards in Nova Scotia and Jersey as well as Ireland

Appendix 1 "In Memory of Richard Webster" - article/obituary on my old website after he died on 23 June 2011 and "Richard Webster, The Idea of Evil and Operation Midland" my Blog article comprising some of our correspondence regarding the Jersey lunacy.

Appendix 2. HIS 2008 blog article "Something evil had happened . . . I had to go on' - Jersey in the Sunday papers"

Rory

EPILOGUE:

(i) Associated Press Apology to Bon Secours Sisters

I had intended to add more to my submission but, as usual for me, ran up against a deadline. The main thing omitted is reference to my article "Tuam Babies and Associated Press Apology to Bon Secours Sisters" 

The Jesuit magazine "America" got the AP to apologise for its worldwide publication of stories that the Catholic Church had refused to baptise the Tuam babies and that it was Church policy to refuse Baptism to the children of unmarried mothers. The AP apology indicated that they had repeated "incorrect Irish news reports"

THIS lie isn't on the same level as the ones about Nazi nuns starving babies to death but it's important because it can be PROVEN false- even half a century or more later. I'm not sure how it started BUT I recall reading reports about "Survivors" claiming that nuns had insulted them and referred to their babies as "Spawn of Satan". I assume that some "Survivors" then progressed from telling stories whose credibility can't be established decades late, to telling lies that can. And Irish media published their lies!  

It's interesting that it was a publication in the USA that got the AP to apologise. I'm sure there are many Americans - ignorant of or prejudiced against the Catholic Church - who would have seen nothing remarkable about this tale. (Just another routine example of Catholic Evil). However is there a single Irish editor - or journalist - who actually believed it? Probably not but there are no Irish MSM editors who are interested in nailing the lie or securing an apology! 

(ii)  "A Redress Board for Jersey"

[Extract from R Webster's article dated 9 June 2008 - no longer online but I quote from it in my article "In Memory of Richard Webster" - see Appendix 1 above]

There have also been a number of other developments. More than a week ago the Jersey Evening Post reported that calls had been made by victims' advocates for Jersey to set up a 'Redress Board'. In practice this would mean that compensation could be awarded to alleged victims without the the need for allegations to be tested in a criminal court. In support of this move Fay Maxted, chief executive of the Survivors' Trust, actually cited the examples provided by compensation schemes set up both in the Republic of Ireland and in Nova Scotia:

"The redress boards set up in Nova Scotia and Ontario in the 1990s, and in Ireland in 2002, have been able to allow victims the opportunity to be heard and recompensed in some way and given communities the opportunity to challenge the silence and secrecy that concealed the abuse in the past."

Today almost exactly the same story appears in the Guardian. What neither the Jersey Evening Post nor the Guardian pointed out was that there is a significant amount of evidence that both in Ireland and Nova Scotia these schemes have in practice functioned almost as a compensation-on-demand scheme for anyone who has made allegations of abuse, whether or not there is any evidence to support these allegations. 

In both cases there have been well-informed claims that the creation of such redress schemes has led to, or intensified, a veritable culture of false allegations. This is the argument put forward by Herman Kelly in the closing sections of his book Kathy's Real Story: A Culture of False Allegations Exposed. The same argument was also implicit in the conclusions of the Canadian judge Fred Kaufman when he was commissioned by the Nova Scotia government to conduct an inquiry into the compensation scheme there.

For my own comment on the workings of the Irish redress board, click here.

If the Jersey parliament were to act on the ill-judged recommendations reported today by the Guardian, they would be committing an act of the grossest kind of folly. [My emphasis RC]

(iii) Ireland, Jersey and Myself as Footnote in History!

[ Extract from R Webster's article of 19 April 2008  Flat Earth News and The Jersey Child Abuse Scandal - Part 1 

The idea that residents of children homes were being murdered played little or no part in the Kincora, North Wales and Casa Pia scandals. But such ideas were prominent in the moral panic which overtook the Irish Republic in 1999 after the broadcast on Irish TV of States of Fear, a three-part documentary series about the Irish industrial schools. Amidst the widespread allegations of abuse which were made in the wake of this programme, many children were said to have disappeared or been murdered in schools run by the Christian Brothers. As the tireless campaigner Rory Connor has pointed out, in a comment posted on the Community Care website, ‘these included accusations in a major Sunday newspaper of mass killing (“a Holocaust”) at Letterfrack in Co. Galway.’ However, as Connor notes, ‘Not a single claim has proved to be correct. This is not surprising as several relate to periods when no child died of any cause.’

In Ireland, as in North Wales and Kincora, there can be no doubt that some children were physically or sexually abused in children’s homes. But in all these cases what has happened is that a small nucleus of reality has had woven around it a vast tissue of fantasy and fabrication. Both in Ireland and in North Wales, as in similar scandals in Cheshire, Merseyside, Northumbria (and indeed in Nova Scotia), the evidence indicates that overwhelming majority of allegations associated with such scandals are false. [My emphasis]