Cowen: Ryan report the gravest in state's history
The devastating Ryan inquiry that uncovered widespread child abuse in church-run institutions was the gravest report ever published in the state’s history, the Taoiseach said today.
At the opening of a two-day Dáil debate on the scandal Brian Cowen said the findings painted an unsettling portrait of Irish society.
Mr Cowen again repeated the Government’s apology to the victims for failing to intervene or to come to their rescue.
“It (the Ryan Report) contains a shattering litany of abuse of children in care in this country over many decades,” the Taoiseach said.
“In doing so it presents a searing indictment of the people who perpetrated that abuse, of the religious congregations who ran the institutions in which it took place, and of the organs of the State which failed in their duty to care for the children involved.”
Mr Cowen said the report had radically changed the public’s perception of what went on in the institutions and has vindicated former residents.
“The report makes grim reading,” the Taoiseach said.
“The catalogue of horror and terror that was visited over many years on children in the care of religious congregations, placed there by the State, is appalling beyond belief.”
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the report shamed us as a state and a society.
“Down all the decades, we repeated that mantra about cherishing all the children equally – and, at the same time, we now know, the State ignored the neglect and abuse of the most vulnerable of our children,” Mr Kenny said.
“This was not cherishing the children. This was not Christian compassion.
“This was a failure to care.”
The debate was delayed for two days after Fine Gael tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government in the wake of the local and European election results.
Labour Party chief Eamon Gilmore said he hoped the report would be a watershed in Irish history.
“I think it is fair to say that sordid saga of the systematic abuse and neglect of children who were handed over by the state into the custody of religious institutions shocked Irish society to its very core,” he said.
Yesterday Cardinal Sean Brady revealed he would not be involved in new negotiations to compensate victims of abuse in institutions.
He said while a deal should be revisited, it would not be right for the church to enter talks between Government and 18 religious organisations whose members physically and sexually assaulted thousands of children in their care.
The country’s bishops said the Ryan Report represented the most recent disturbing indictment of a culture that was prevalent in the Catholic Church for far too long.
The Dáil has agreed to sit for an extra day tomorrow to finish the debate.
