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News
This page will be populated with news stories documenting the setting up of the Redress Board and the Irish Commission, as they develope. They do not necessarily represent the views of the author of this site or the Irish Survivors Group. Should you want to contribute please email us or fill out our form.
| 9th January 2006 | |
| Minister Asked to Extend Scope of Enquiry | |
| The Labour Party has called on the Minister for Education to extend the remit of the Residential Institutions Redress Board to allow the former residents of more institutions to apply for compensation. The party says some former residents are ineligible because there are no records of a State body carrying out an inspection of an institution. | |
| 23rd December 2005 | |
| Damning Report into abuse in Irish Diocese (The Times 26th October) | |
| The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland was today reeling from a report which unmasks, in harrowing detail, four decades of institutionalised sexual abuse of children by priests. Church leaders, police and state agencies in County Wexford, southeast Ireland, were all criticised for failing to acknowledge or act upon dozens of reports of molestation and rape. | |
| McDowell To Confirm Dublin Abuse Enquiry (RTE 26th October 2005) | |
| Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, is hoping to bring the terms of reference of a promised inquiry into child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese before the cabinet in a matter of weeks | |
| Abuse Survival (Appearing in Paddy Doyle's most excellent site | |
| "Every form of oppression is achieved only by exerting violence. Sexual abuse is the deepest way to oppress someone. Bringing violence, intrusion and forceful humiliation right inside another's body." | |
| 14th December 2005 | |
| Redress Board secrecy 'causing damage' to victims of sex abuse | |
| THE Redress Board, which accepts its final compensation claims on Thursday, is "one of the greatest abuses perpetrated against the victims of sexual abuse in religious-run residential institutions," according to a top psychiatrist | |
| 1st November 2005 | |
European
Lawyer Magazine Article  |
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| Read our article in the most recent edition of the European Lawyer magazine, written by Peter Garsden, partner in charge of the Child Abuse department about the Redress Board. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file. | |
| 21st October 2005 | |
| Quarriers Conference 11th November 2005 | |
| Quarriers are delighted to announce the first in a series of national conferences. It will focus on the freedom of the press in relation to children's rights which is an area of concern for many. The Children's Rights & Press Freedom Conference will be held at The Forum in Bath on 11 November 2005. To book your place take a look at www.quarriersforum.net. Abney Garsden McDonald will be in attendance, with a stand. Come and visit us. Download our flyer | |
| 16th September 2005 | |
| Standing Up to the Tyrannical Sisters of Mercy | |
| Read a review about this book concerning experiences in Irish care. | |
| 23rd August 2005 | |
| Illegitimate so they told me I was rotten to the core | |
| Tormented by the Sisters of Mercy during her childhood in Ireland, Kathleen O'Malley has written a book about her ordeal to exorcise her demons. Read this moving account of the book in the Times. | |
| 15th August 2005 | |
| Advertising (for our poster click here) | |
| Under section 5(1)(b) of the Residential Institution and Redress Act 2002 the Board are obliged to instiute publicity to make potential claimants aware of their rights. Because of the lack of advertising we have devised our own poster in Adobe PDF format - if you do not have this on your own computer it can be downloaded free of charge by clicking here. Please feel free to display it wherever you think those affected will see it. | |
| 15th August 2005 | |
| New Institutions are added | |
| The July 2005 RIRB newsletter announces that to date 7046 applications have been received by the board and that the average payout is €77150. Of more importance are various amendments to the RIRA. Read the newsletter for more detail. Significantly 3 new institutions have been added to the list - Mary Immaculate School for the Deaf, Beechpark, Co. Dublin, “The Boys Home” Grand Canal Street, Dublin 2, & “Racefield”, Upper Mountown Road, Dun Laoghaire. | |
| 8th July 2005 | |
| A View of the Redress Board | |
| This article which appeared in the Irish Echo features Paddy Doyle and includes his opinion amongst others of the way surivors are handled by the Redress Board. It is not very complimentary. | |
| 20th June 2005 | |
| Before the Redress Board (The Dark Ages) | |
| There have been complaints about the Redress
Board, but when you compare it with what is on offer in England, and
most other Commonwealth jurisdictions throughout the world, with the
possible exception of Canada, it stands head and shoulders above the
rest. I only realised this when I read a very old article in the Irish Examiner, which reminds us that of 42,000 children who went to institutions only 5000 or thereabouts have applied to the Redress Board. Interestingly in Scotland they think that as many as 150,000 children went to the institutions and 50,000 settled in UK? So who is right? |
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| 25th May 2005 | |
| Letter to the Irish Times | |
| Read a letter from a psychiatrist called Dr Michael Corry written after his experiences at the RIRB sent to the Irish Times and published on the Paddy Doyle site | |
| 6th May 2005 | |
| New Homes Added in November 2004 | |
| On VE day it is perhaps appropriate to draw your attention to the announcment back in November 2004 that additional homes were added to the list of institution under the RIRB Act 2002. See the Advice Page | |
| 29th April 2005 | |
| Appeal to Irish Care Home Kids | |
| Read the Manchester Evening News story in which once again we plead for victims of abuse in Irish Residential Insitutions to come forward before it is too late in time for the deadline of 15th December 2005. | |
| 23rd April 2005 | |
| "Come Forward" Plea to Abuse Victims | |
| Daily Ireland in Belfast feature front page encouraging victims of instiutional abuse to come forward and make claims before it is too late. | |
| 16th April 2005 | |
| Deadline Approaches | |
| Applications for redress to the RIRB must be made before close of business on 15th December 2005. There are, therefore, only 8 months left. You must apply now, before it is too late. Before your solicitor can submit an application he must take a full statement, get proof of residence, and obtain a medical report. All this takes time and therefore applicants should act now. See our Press Release. Remember that the application should be completely free to you because the RIRB pay all legal costs in addition to your award. Look at our guide page | |
| Cardinal Law's Mass for the Pope | |
| Read a letter written to the Irish Times by a dissillusioned priest who is appalled at how Cardinal Law, the archbishop who is implicated in the Boston, USA child abuse scandal, was allowed to celebrate Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. This story appears on the Paddy Doyle site. | |
| 12th March 2005 | |
| Abuse Award Opens Lawsuit & Floodgates | |
| The state may face thousands of new lawsuits from victims of physical abuse in industrial schools because of findings in a record €370,000 court settlement last week. | |
| 4th January 2005 | |
| Barnado Help With Records | |
| Barnardo's have set up resources in order to assist in tracing records of those eligible for Redress under the Act. The system is called "Origins" Full details can be found on the Barnardos Irish Website - http://www.barnardos.ie/origins-service.htm There are branches in Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Wexford. See Advice and Lawyers Tips pages. | |
| 26th March 2004 | |
| UK Resident Hearing Arrangements | |
| RIRB has decided to hold mostly hearings in Dublin not UK, principally because most UK residents are represented by Irish solicitors, who usually attend settlement hearings in the absence of their clients. For further details click here. | |
| 3rd March 2004 | |
| Magdalene Laundries Pictures Wanted | |
| Hammersmith Irish Centre in London are holding an exhibition of old photographs and letters, etc. from Magdalene Laundries in May this year. Please see the attached advert (You will need Adobe Acrobat to open this). Contact Ros Scanlon on 020 8741 4590 | |
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| 5th December 2003 | |
| Priest Reveals Child Abuse Torment | |
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A Catholic priest who has served in Northern Ireland
has revealed he was sexually abused during three periods of his childhood.
Father Patrick McCafferty, who has served in parishes in Lisburn, County Antrim, and in Belfast, said he had decided to speak out to give hope to other survivors |
| 5th September 2003 | |
| 1973 Murder of Brian McDermott & Belfast Telegraph | |
| POLICE have not ruled out witchcraft or paedophilia as motives for Northern Ireland's most gruesome child murder, it emerged today. Detectives have appealed for fresh information about the death of 10-year-old Brian McDermott, 30 years after his murder | |
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| 19th May 2003 | |
| Landmark Win for Sex Abuse Victim | |
| A Belfast woman who was sexually abused as a child has won a landmark compensation case. She was awarded a five figure sum after a legal battle lasting nearly a decade. | |
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| April 2003 - Manchester Evening News | |
| Pensioners come forward in Irish abuse investigation by Conrad Astley | |
| DOZENS of pensioners who were abused in
Irish care homes as children have been seeking compensation through
a Cheadle firm of solicitors. Abney Garsden McDonald is one of a handful of firms across the UK who are putting victims in touch with a special board set up by the Irish government to compensate people affected by physical or sexual abuse, |
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| 7th January 2003 | |
| "Letter to an MP" & "Witchcraft in Ireland" & "Disappeared off the face of the Earth" | |
| Read the incredible reports of serious abuse at the hands of various individuals including ritual and satanic abuse in Ireland. The opinions, as always, are those of the writer of the articles. The third link is a précis of a book which can be purchased for €18. | |
| 5th January 2003 | |
| Abuse Compensation Demand | |
| An organisation
representing survivors of abuse in industrial and reformatory schools
has demanded that interim payments be made to everyone who qualifies
for compensation. The call was made by former residents as they collected application forms from the Residential Institutions Redress Board on the first day of the scheme's operation. |
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| 3rd December 2002 | |
| Redress Board finally opens | |
| The Residential Institutions Redress Board opened its doors for business on 16th December 2002. It will entertain applications for compensation for any individual who was abused in an institution mentioned in the Schedule to the Act who makes an application before 16th December 2005. Read an article in the Irish Examiner complaining about the rules for the 10.000 Euro interim payment rule | |
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| 23rd May 2002 | |
| Another Ugly Turn | |
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One day, a Roman Catholic priest is shot and severely wounded by a man who said the cleric sexually molested him in 1993. Three days later, another priest accused of sexually abusing boys...... |
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| 20th May 2002 | |
| Priest Jailed on Porn Charge | |
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A senior Catholic priest who
was caught with 18,000 indecent photographs and computer images of
children has been jailed for nine months. Father Michael O'Kelly, the former Dean of Reading, had pleaded guilty to a single charge of making indecent pseudo-photographs of a child between June 1997 and October 2000. |
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| 20th May 2002 | |
| Mass Arrests over online child porn | |
| Thirty-six people suspected of downloading
paedophile pornography from the web have been arrested in raids across
the UK. Officers from 30 forces searched 43 homes and seized about 30 computers, plus discs and videos. |
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| 16th May 2002 | |
| Redress Act Advice Conference | |
| On 21st May 2002 at between 12 Midday and 2pm Tom Bowland from the Government in Dublin who drafted the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 will be giving a talk about the new Redress Board and the compensation system at the London Irish Centre, Camden Square, London. Outreach workers are encouraged to attend. Places are limited to 40 so to reserve your place email the Centre. | |
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| 12th May 2002 - Macclesfield Express | |
| Lawyer who led child abuse investigation spearheads new campaign. by Virginia Waters | |
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A Local lawyer who led one of the biggest paedophile ring investigations ever undertaken - at the expense of his personal life - is spearheading a new campaign..... he is starting a fresh campaign to appeal for survivors of abuse at Irish care centres who are now living in the north west....He has launched a freephone helpline where victims can receive guidance on the legal remedies available to them. |
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| 11th May 2002 | |
| Watchdog calls for new rules on priests
(see Irish Post) By Catherine Jackson Priests should be banned from being alone with children, according to the recently appointed head of the COPCVA - the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults. Eileen Shearer believes any encounters between Catholic clergy and children should be ruled out because of the possibility of abuse, but also to avoid suspicion and allegations. |
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| 7th May 2002 | |
| Priest Denies Sex Abuse Charges | |
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A former Roman Catholic priest in the United
States has pleaded not guilty to charges of raping a young boy.The
pleas were entered on Paul Shanley's behalf at a court in Cambridge,
Massachussets. It is said that allegations have been made against 200 priests across 18 states since January 2002 when the stories broke |
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| 2nd May 2002 | |
| Catholic Child Abuse Fears Widen | |
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The Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong has confirmed that three of its priests have been accused of sexually abusing children. The allegations - which cover the last three decades - are now being investigated by police. There are similar allegations appearing in Asia, Austria, and France |
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Top of PageAbney Garsden McDonald, 37,Station Road Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire. SK8 5AF Tel: +44 0161 482 8822 Fax:+44 0161 482 8833 Email: admin@abneys.co.uk or [name]@abneys.co.uk Irish Survivors Freephone: 0800 7835969
Also at 45 Park Lane, Poynton, Cheshire SK12 1RD. Tel: +44 01625 879279 Fax: +44 01625 859490