Two former Christian Brothers are upset that abuse allegations, already investigated by the Garda, are being brought up again by the State's redress board. Patsy McGarry reports.
A former Christian Brother, "Peter", against whom no charges were brought following a Garda investigation of physical and sexual abuse allegations against him, has been asked by the Residential Institutions Redress Board to comment on the allegations.
The board has also asked him to comment on one new allegation with which he was not confronted before. It dates from a year when Peter was aged two. He has never heard of the man making the allegation.
The redress board is charged by the State with paying compensation to victims of abuse in residential institutions.
A letter Peter received from the board this week and another sent to him by the board last April - which has been seen by The Irish Times - included details of the alleged incidents.
Seven other Brothers were also named in the letters as alleged abusers of the same complainant. A copy of the complainant's statement, detailing the allegations against all eight Brothers, was attached to letters sent by the board to each of the eight Brothers.
In 1998 Peter was suspended from teaching when allegations of abuse in a residential institution were first made against him.
He was reinstated in 2001 when, following the Garda investigation, no charges were brought.
In 1998 Peter was questioned by gardaí in connection with an allegation. He was arrested in 1999. By then 15 former residents of the institution had made allegations against him.
He was questioned for 12 hours during which he protested his total innocence.
He was not physically present at the times the incidents alleged by 13 of the former residents occurred.
On foot of the same allegations investigated by the Garda, he has now been contacted by both the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and the redress board.
The commission has two strands: a confidential committee before which abuse victims may tell their story; and an investigations committee which checks out allegations made by former residents of the institutions.
Another former Christian Brother, "Patrick", has also been contacted recently by both statutory bodies in connection with allegations against him.
These have been investigated by the Garda, and no charges have been brought.
The redress board, which compensates victims of abuse in residential institutions, in its "guide to hearing procedures" states that "in the interests of fairness and justice" it may permit someone named in an application as an "abuser, and/or someone representing the management of the institution in which the applicant may have been abused, to attend."
Patrick had been at the same residential institution as Peter, and many of the same people made similar allegations against both.
Although Peter and Patrick served in other residential institutions also, no allegations have been made against either from any of those other institutions.
Patrick, who left the Brothers over two decades ago and has since married and had a family, was faced with allegations from 22 former residents of the institution. The first were made in 1999.
His arrest then, at his home by three gardaí in front of his wife and neighbours, was reported on the six o'clock television news that evening.
He was held for 12 hours and interrogated aggressively, as he recalls it, in connection with allegations made by five former residents.
He was arrested shortly afterwards in connection with allegations by 10 further former residents, but says he was treated better on this occasion. Seven more former residents made allegations later.
He has not been charged in connection with any of the allegations. He was told by the Garda that all but two were being dropped. The DPP had asked for further details on those two cases.
This was supplied by the Garda to the DPP's office two years ago. Nothing has happened since then. Until Patrick is cleared definitively of the remaining two allegations he must remain on "leave with pay" from his school, as he has been since 1999.
Both men have said they have contemplated suicide. One said: "It would have been better to be charged with murder than such a heinous crime."
Recently, at a function, he met 11 Christian Brothers who had been interrogated by gardaí following allegations. Charges were brought against none.
The men said they are considering setting up a support group for the falsely accused. They said they may call it Survivors Of False Allegations (SOFA).