Cowen seeking to meet congregations

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen said he would seek a meeting with the religious congregations.

Speaking in the Dáil before the Cabinet meeting to discuss the Ryan report, Mr Cowen said “it would be my intention to ask the congregations to meet and indicate what further steps will now be taken in light of what has been stated in, and the conclusions of, this report”.

Mr Cowen welcomed a statement earlier in the day by the Christian Brothers.

“I hope the remaining congregations will indicate similarly that they are minded to do the same or make a further important gesture to the victims in the aftermath of the report’s publication. I hope they will be forthcoming.”

Mr Cowen said everybody in the House was appalled in equal measure by the terrible litany of crimes and abuse which was so clearly set out in the report.

Mr Cowen accepted a proposal by the Fine Gael leader that the House pass an agreed motion arising from the child abuse report.

Enda Kenny suggested that the motion should indicate that the Oireachtas, representative of all the people in the State, was able to respond in a dignified and united fashion that it understood, or attempted to understand, the horrendous position in which thousands of children found themselves for years.

“Such people are still in that position in their adult lives,” he added.

Mr Cowen said he hoped that the House could come forward with a united motion for its two-day debate to discuss the matter on an agreed basis.

“That should be attempted in any event,” he added.

He said the legal advice received by the Government was that it was not possible to reopen the existing agreement with the religious orders.

“That in no way hinders additional voluntary contributions being made by those congregations as an indication of the sincerity of their position as a result of the graphic and horrendous details which form the central part of this report.”

Mr Kenny referred to the case of Mary Brown (a pseudonym) who was taken from her mother when she was born. Her mother was put in a mental hospital for 40 years.

Mary Brown, he said, “had no birthdays, no school . . . she was beaten, savaged, raped, brutalised and she was a slave. She said to me that she has cried the equivalent of the river Liffey over the years.

“Not a night or day passes without her feeling the hurt, pain, the need for love and the need for atonement.”

Mr Kenny said he was concerned about the message that the Oireachtas could send out this week with the first opportunity it had to address the consequences and findings of the report.

“I think of Mary Brown’s tears to me last weekend when she recounted for me in graphic detail her being dragged from a black Volkswagen car by a child protection officer, her pants pulled down and her being raped,” said Mr Kenny.

“It is for people like this that we need, as an Oireachtas and irrespective of our party political affiliations, to send out a message of support and solidarity.”

He said Mary Brown was a bright and intelligent woman who spoke from her soul.