The resignation of Mr Bob Lewis is the latest setback to afflict the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse before it has even got down to its main work of listening to the tales of hundreds of victims.
One of the largest victims' groups, Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, had already urged its members to boycott the commission, mainly because it is unhappy with its terms of reference. That group, and its counterpart in Britain, began calling last week for Mr Lewis to step down after Lancashire police announced it was investigating child abuse allegations dating back 30 years in care homes, including one in which he previously worked.
Mr Lewis (60) was deputy head in 1970 of an approved school for pregnant girls in Preston, Lancashire. Before this he worked in an approved school for Catholic boys in Apethorpe, East Northamptonshire.
For 26 years until his retirement in March 1999, Mr Lewis held senior positions in social services in council districts covered by an ongoing investigation by Greater Manchester Police into historic child abuse in care homes and residential schools. Mr Lewis says he is hurt and disappointed by recent newspaper reports linking him to British police investigations. He insists he is not the subject of any British police investigation, nor is any residential home for which he had management responsibility in the past three decades.
His motivation for stepping down is to allow the commission to get on with its work without the distraction of continuing challenges to his role on its sixmember investigative committee, chaired by Ms Justice Laffoy.
"People are being urged not to co-operate with the commission because, wrongly, the impression has been given that I am in some way implicated in inquiries related to child abuse in Britain," he told The Irish Times yesterday in Dublin.
"I can't see how the commission can do its job if a substantial number of people choose not to co-operate and therefore if it makes the commission's task easier in reporting accurately to the Government on the extent and nature of abuse in institutions by me not being there, then I feel the honourable thing to do is to stand down."
Mr Lewis acknowledges that "the downside is that people will say there's no smoke without fire. I reply to that that I stand by my own proven track record. When I retired I was the longest-serving director of social services in the country. All the inspection reports that are carried out in England are published and there's not one that is critical of any service that I have managed throughout my whole time as a manager. I don't want to sound arrogant, but I don't think that's a bad achievement."
Mr Lewis was the assistant director of social services in Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council between 1974 and 1981, and director from 1987 until his retirement last year. From 1982 to 1987, he was the director of social services in Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council. He was even the liaison director with the Greater Manchester Police in its ongoing investigation into child sex abuse in children's homes and residential schools. Mr Lewis was former honorary secretary and then president of the Association of Directors of Social Services. He has chaired a number of childcare reviews and was commissioned recently by the British Department of Health to review social work services in special hospitals in England.
Survivors' groups have acknowledged that there are no allegations against him, but insisted his past work in approved homes made him an inappropriate choice for the commission. Mr Lewis firmly rejects the suggestion that he is tainted by his professional background.
"How can the commission acquire the expertise of caring for children if they don't have people who've actually done it?" he asks.
"I know in my own mind that I have not condoned abuse let alone practised it. It's abhorrent to me and what I was able to bring to the commission was a knowledge of management of residential care which no one else on the commission has got. You have to have a professional background and history and you acquire knowledge through your experience and surely that's an advantage, not a disadvantage."
He "understands the suspicions that survivors have. You'd be insensitive not to understand that. What I can't accept is the linking of me with anything that suggests that I would be sympathetic to, or indeed party to, the abuse of children."
The commission was set up after the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, promised last summer that measures would be taken to deal with the grievances of the victims of abuse in State institutions and religious-run primary and secondary schools since the 1940s. This followed the broadcast of the RTE documentary last May, States of Fear, which prompted Mr Ahern to apologise on behalf of the State and make amends.
Mr Lewis was invited to join the commission on foot of a recommendation by a representative of the British government.
In his letter of resignation delivered yesterday to the Minister for Education who established the commission, Mr Lewis emphasised his strong belief in the value of its work. The commission will hold its second public sitting today without him.