Madam, - For about two years now the organisation Love - which initially said its mandate was to speak of its members' positive experiences of institutional care but which has now morphed into an organisation that claims to represent an undisclosed number of people who have allegedly been falsely accused of, as yet, undisclosed allegations of child sexual abuse - has publicly stated that it has evidence of false and therefore fraudulent claims submitted to the Residential Institutions Redress Board.
It is of course possible that where a system exists that might be criminally defrauded, unscrupulous individuals might indeed attempt to perpetrate such fraud. However, there is no evidence that fraud has been perpetrated.
Indeed it would appear that the systems built into the RIRB are working well. Of the 5,111 applications received at the end of 2004, one case so far has been referred to An Garda Síochána for investigation. As a result of that investigation no further action was taken (RIRB Annual Report, 2004). The whole premise upon which Love intends to take an action against the RIRB may be fundamentally flawed.
Section 11(12) of the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002 states: "The making of an award to an applicant, notwithstanding a conflict between the evidence given by the applicant and a relevant person, shall not constitute a finding of fact relating to fault or negligence on the part of the relevant person." There is no question of any individual being found guilty or responsible for an act of abuse and there is no question of a person's name being damaged publicly.
As an organisation committed to working to address and respond to the very real trauma of child sexual abuse, One in Four would not hesitate to report an attempt to exploit such trauma. Our stated policy is to report any evidence of fraudulent claims to the relevant authorities.
Since the first time that Love made this totally unsubstantiated statement, we have called for it to disclose the detail of this fraud to the Garda so that this alleged crime could be investigated and those responsible prosecuted. It is the responsibility of every citizen of this State to report information or evidence of any crime to the Garda. We ask again that Love live up to this responsibility and hand over any evidence of any alleged criminal offence without further delay. - Yours, etc,
COLM O' GORMAN,
Director, One in Four,
Holles Street,
Dublin 2.