Scouting volunteer to turn whistleblower on abuse scandal
A scouting volunteer is expected to turn whistleblower on allegations about sexual abuse in the scouting movement, the Irish Examiner can reveal.
They have approached abuse survivors with a large collection of files that relate to abuse cases spanning more than 20 years.
They appear to be some of the very files that child protection consultant Ian Elliott had been unable to get his hands on for his historical review of sexual abuse in scouting organisations, which was published last week.
Paul O’Toole, who survived abuse by former scout leader, David O’Brien, said: "A volunteer associated with scouting for a number of years has come forward with several boxes of files relating to the abuse of scouts.
"Depending on what exactly is in these files, these new files could blow this whole abuse scandal wide open.
"This could potentially be a very significant development."
Mr Elliott had first appealed for files two years ago after he was commissioned to undertake his review by Scouting Ireland.
But he admitted in his final report last week that “very little” documentation was “surrendered”.
Because of this, he said: “The full extent of abuse cannot be precisely defined because of the systematic failure of scouting to retain proper records of allegations made or the actions taken to address them.”
And he noted that files had often been retained in the private homes of volunteers.
Mr O'Toole added: "There are potentially hundreds of people who have the files Ian Elliott was trying to get his hands on.
"The fact that even he couldn’t get his hands on them speaks volumes about the validity of his own work.
"His hands were effectively tied by the lack of information."
There are at least 356 victims of the abuse that occurred mostly over a 30-year period up to the 1990s at the hands of at least 275 alleged perpetrators.
Until their organisations merged to form Scouting Ireland in 2004, perpetrators were all members of either the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland (CBSI) or the Scout Association of Ireland (SAI) — both of which are referred to as “legacy” organisations.
Mr Elliott notes in his report: “When sex offenders rose to the top of the legacy organisations, the structure allowed them to control decisions taken in scouting.
They protected and supported each other, preventing any attempts to hold an alleged offender accountable for their actions, if they were part of their groups.
Mr O’Toole says he and other survivors are not at all happy with Mr Elliott’s report: “It doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
"It just isn’t worth the paper it is written on and it only goes to serve our view that there needs to be a statutory enquiry into what happened."
A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs said: “The Government had previously undertaken to give careful consideration to the question of an appropriate statutory investigation.
"Mr Elliott’s report suggests a statutory inquiry may face the same limitations as his Learning Review.
"Mr Elliott has also emphasised the cooperation of Scouting Ireland in relation to his review.
"As such, a key factor is whether a statutory inquiry would uncover new information."
And they added: “The Department understands all matters appropriate to criminal investigation have already been sent to An Garda Síochána and Scouting Ireland.”
