David Quinn
It has not been receiving much coverage here, but over in Britain a major row has been taking place over the refusal by the British Government to order a national inquiry into the rape of thousands of underage girls in towns across Britain by men of mostly Pakistani background.
Typing the last few words of that last sentence is actually a somewhat controversial act. Are we allowed to point out the identity of the perpetrators, or should we just say ‘men’? In fact, the hesitation in pointing out the specific identity of the perpetrators is precisely what led to the cover-up in the first place of one of the worst sex abuse scandals in recent British history.
The British scandal has direct relevance to Ireland because a report from 2023 into the sex abuse and rape of underage girls in the care of Tusla, the State’s child protection agency, found that “gangs of men” were taking these girls out of State-run care centres (which were sometimes, in fact, hotels rented by Tusla), plying them with drink and gifts and then raping them before returning them to their care centres.
Some of these girls (usually teenagers under the age of consent, which is 17), appeared to be going voluntarily. They wanted to go away for the night with these men. But this is why we have an age of consent; to stop underage girls and boys being emotionally manipulated, and it is why it is considered statutory rape to have sex with an underage person. It is to protect them.
Reaction
Since that report came out there has been almost no political or media reaction. We seem no closer to finding out the identity of these “gangs of men” and the general public are probably clueless about the whole thing.
As of last October, the Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, had not yet contacted the Department of Justice with a view to getting to the bottom of what the report, commissioned by Tusla itself, revealed. Why is that? Why the lack of urgency? Why the apparent lack of curiosity? Tusla falls under the Department of Children. One suspects that if the report found that the men in question were priests or religious, there would be a lot more urgency about the matter.
The report actually said that what is happening to the girls (and sometimes boys) who are being sexually abused by these gangs of men bears a resemblance to what was eventually uncovered in British towns like Rochdale and Rotherham. That should have had very loud alarm bells ringing straight away, but did not.
Many of the girls came from care homes and no-one was looking after them properly. They were easy prey”
So, what happened in places like Rotherham? Rotherham is one of those towns in the north of England that provided decent employment to immigrants from countries like Pakistan for some time.
Over a 15-year period right from roughly the late-1990s until around 2013, it is estimated that 1,400 girls were sexually abused by gangs of men, many of whom were of Pakistani origin. To put this in perspective, the total population of Rotherham is about 120,000.
Many of the girls came from care homes and no-one was looking after them properly. They were easy prey.
Eventually, police did begin to act against the perpetrators, and a 2020 study by academics from Reading and Chichester universities estimated that 1 in 73 Muslim men in Rotherham were prosecuted for their involvement in the abuse. That’s an incredible total.
Immense
The immense scandal that took place in Rotherham was repeated across many English towns meaning that many thousands of underage girls were sexually abused and raped over a period of many years. It is believed that abuse is still going on.
Is it relevant to point out the identity of the perpetrators? In fact, is it irresponsible to do so in light of racial tensions that exist in parts of Britain?
These sorts of questions were behind the long-term cover-up of the scandals by local politicians, police, social workers and even schools.
It identified 96 men still deemed a potential risk to children, adding that this was ‘only a proportion’ of the numbers involved in the abuse”
There was awareness of what was going on. Social workers and teachers, among others, could see that these underage girls were going off with older Asian men but mainly decided to turn a blind eye, partly because what the girls were doing seemed to be ‘voluntary’ in some cases, partly because girls having sex below the age of consent was tolerated, but largely because there was a horror that if what was happening came to light, it would incite racism, which was a definite possibility.
And so, what we ended up with was a vast cover-up of a vast scandal taking place across much of England.
An investigation into the Rochdale scandal was finally published this time last year. As the BBC said: [The report] “highlights the apparent local authority indifference to the plight of hundreds of youngsters identified as potential victims of Asian men.”
It identified 96 men still deemed a potential risk to children, adding that this was “only a proportion” of the numbers involved in the abuse. In other words, many abusers were still at large.
Tensions
If the abuse was being carried out mainly by Irish men living in Britain, it would be relevant to point this out even if it increased community tensions. It would be up to Irish communities in England to be aware of the problem and to do something about it.
If a blind eye was turned for fear of inciting racism, then the abuse would simply continue. And if, eventually, the guilty men were apprehended, and it turned out many of them had Irish names, ordinary people would be understandably angry that a ‘politically correct’ desire to avoid community tensions had allowed a gigantic scandal to fester.
What we actually see at work is much the same motive that led to Catholic Church authorities covering up scandals involving priests; they did not want the reputation of the Church and of the clergy damaged. Clergy were on a pedestal and the authorities did not want them removed from that.
The local bureaucracy was, indeed, too fearful of being labelled ‘racist,’ too unwilling, as a former member of Parliament put it, to ‘rock the multicultural community boat’”
In the case of the scandals in places like Rochdale, we see a desire to protect certain minorities from any criticism, to put them on a pedestal, and so a blind eye was turned with devastating consequences for the girls involved.
As the New York Times columnist, Ross Douthat, pointed out in 2014, when the scandal in Rotherham was first coming to light: “Show me what a culture values, prizes, puts on a pedestal, and I’ll tell you who is likely to get away with rape.”
He wrote: “The local bureaucracy was, indeed, too fearful of being labelled ‘racist,’ too unwilling, as a former member of Parliament put it, to ‘rock the multicultural community boat.’”
It is possible that something similar is taking place here. The aforementioned report, commissioned by Tusla, has not led to the necessary follow-up investigations, not yet anyway. Is there a fear of what might be uncovered? If so, then a potentially very big and devastating cover-up of child sex abuse is taking place right now, in modern Ireland.