RCNI Press Release 20 May 2009

RCNI call for government to take implementation of recommendations seriously

Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI) today welcomed the publishing of the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

Clíona Saidléar, RCNI Policy Director said, ‘we welcome the report of the Commission. This has been a protracted inquiry and one which had to overcome challenges along the way to reach its conclusion. Our thoughts are with the many survivors, whether they gave evidence directly to the Commission or not, whose abuse this report bears witness to. 50% of witnesses reported sexual abuse, many detailed the reprimands they experienced when they disclosed the abuse.

‘While the RCNI are disappointed that individual perpetrators and authorities are not to be held fully accountable, we must learn the lessons that we badly need to from this report. The RCNI calls on the government to assign someone, at a sufficiently senior level, to be responsible for ensuring that the recommendations within this report are progressed and implemented.

‘We continue to have much to learn. Recent events, such as those in Monageer, continue to demonstrate to us that inadequate State and societal responses continue to fail children. We await the report from the Roscommon case inquiry and the Ombudsman for Children’s inquiry into the HSE’s flawed Catholic Dioceses audit on child protection as well as the imminent Dublin Diocese inquiry.

‘While it may appear that this report closes a long chapter by revealing a shameful past, today’s continued failings show this is not the case. But this report, if its recommendations are properly implemented, will be a good start.’

Notes:
• The RCNI is the national Rape Crisis Sector body, which provides a voice for survivors and is a catalyst for social change towards a society free from abuse.

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