ABUSE FALLOUT:THE DAMAGE caused by priests and members of religious orders who abused children has affected the victims' own children, an organisation that helps victims living in the UK has said.
Immigrant Counselling and Psychotherapy, funded by the Irish Health Service Executive, has offered psychological services to abuse victims over the past decade.
The organisation’s chief executive, Gary Fereday, said the Dublin Diocesan Report was “another step in the right direction” to ensure such abuse never happened again.
“[It] is clear that clerical child abuse was covered up by the Archdiocese of Dublin and other church authorities and we were particularly disappointed to see the gardaí effectively conniving with the church in some of the complaints,” he said.
Almost half of those abused by priests and members of religious orders fled to Britain as soon as they were released from orphanages or industrial schools, Mr Fereday said.
“The long-term effects and transgenerational nature of such abuse is often overlooked. We are beginning to see the second-generation children of survivors and their states of mind require the same careful, professional and long-term psychotherapeutic treatment as did those of their parents.”