The Scoping Inquiry into Historical Sexual Abuse in Schools run by Religious Orders has rightly generated a response of revulsion at the horrific acts perpetrated across the country. The inquiry reveals abuse on a large scale. No amount of context can mask the fact that 2,395 allegations of abuse have been made across 308 schools run by religious orders and that 884 distinct individuals are alleged to have committed abuse. The majority of these are identified as belonging to the religious orders although 17% are alleged lay abusers – whether teachers or otherwise.
The inquiry covers a very long period – over 80 years – but highlights, in parallel with other inquiries, that the peak of abuse came in the 1970s. The report also highlights that the majority of those reporting abuse were male. Neither of these two areas have been sufficiently interrogated to date, as the main focus has been on holding the Church and religious orders to account above all else.
Taoiseach Simon Harris, speaking at a Fine Gael think-in, spoke of the “collective sense of national shame” at the abuse but quickly turned focus onto the religious orders with the threat of using government ‘levers’ to ensure the ‘Church’ is not left off the hook.
This narrative has been accompanied by a renewed focus on the ‘hundreds of millions’ held in assets by the religious orders creating the impression that the various orders are cash-rich and sitting on unimaginable levels of cash. This is not the case as much of these assets are in fact buildings, in active use, often providing social services to the Irish public.
Rhetoric in recent years has been that the government should use its ‘levers’ to seize Church properties in order to extract redress payments. Such heavy handed action by the State should be carefully assessed.
The Scoping Inquiry noted a 2022 Central Statistics Officer Sexual Violence Survey that suggested that over 40,000 people over the age of 35 in Ireland are estimated to have experienced sexual abuse as a child in school.
The figures in the Scoping Inquiry are less than 10% of that total, although considering the number of schools assessed under the Scoping Inquiry, they point towards equivalence with the CSO survey estimates.
There are 3,300 primary schools and over nearly one thousand post-primary schools in Ireland. The Scoping Inquiry covers only a small portion of those.
Before the State considers using its power to extract – and possibly bankrupt – the various religious orders it is incumbent that the wider societal issues of sexual abuse in schools be further investigated. Indications are that this has not just been a problem specifically related to schools run by religious orders.
As An Taoiseach noted, there ought to be a collective national shame. Pitching the ‘Tax Payer’ against the religious orders in terms of footing the bill is a disingenuous dichotomy. The State, through the ‘Tax Payer’ has an almost unlimited well of resources to draw on in order to provide any redress that is deemed suitable.
No scheme is going to bankrupt ‘the State’. The State and the Taxpayer will feel limited – if any – pain at having to pay redress. Just as the State can expend countless millions on fighting court cases to avoid admitting liability in a wide range of areas, it can afford to take a once off hit through redress schemes.
This is why ex-poste admissions of ‘collective national shame’ are almost meaningless when used as a means to place the focus – and the blame – firmly elsewhere. Yes, the various religious orders have questions to answer, but a full inquiry that looks beyond religious run schools is needed, otherwise a society – and a State – that allowed the abuse to happen, will be off the hook without exposing the full truths of the history of sexual abuse in Ireland.