A FORMER official of the Eastern Health Board told the High Court yesterday that at no stage up to 1980 did he ever have concerns about Madonna House. If the board had had concerns about the former residential centre for children, it would have acted on them, the court heard.
Mr John Doyle, a retired programme manager, said that procedures had been put in place regarding recruitment of staff dealing with children in care in order to prevent danger to the children. The backgrounds of potential staff were investigated.
Mr Doyle was giving evidence on the third day of an action for damages taken by a Dublin man, now in his 20s, against the EHB and Madonna House, the nominee of the Religious Sisters of Charity Provinciate. The court has heard that the man was abused by a cleric who was a house father at Madonna House for a short time in 1980.
Mr Doyle said that Madonna House was among a number of homes visited for discussion of staff recruitment procedures. The EHB had always ensured that children taken into care should be safe and well cared for and it would not place children at risk.
Cross-examined by Mr Denis McCullough SC, for Madonna House, Mr Doyle said that from the 1970s onwards the board was very conscious of paedophilia for various reasons and was aware of some studies which were taking place. That awareness had developed incrementally.
Asked if there was a far lesser appreciation of the risks of paedophilia in 1980 than now, Mr Doyle said that it was more readily reported now. People were more conscious now of the fact that it occurred.
Mr Dermot McMahon, a social work manager with the EHB, said that he first visited Madonna House in the late 1970s or 1980. The centre and other homes were visited for the purposes of seeing how the children were faring. His recollection was that it was "a very welcoming place". On the surface, things seemed to going quite well.
Earlier, a man whom Mr Justice Cyril Kelly said should not be identified said that he was put into care at Madonna House shortly after 1975, when he was aged about four. One Hallowe'en night, he was abused by a cleric, and he tried to avoid the cleric from then on. He had been doing very well at Madonna House until the incident, the man said.
The hearing continues today.