Dublin clergy abuse survivor saw "toxic nexus between church & state" 40 years ago, feels vindicated by exposé of cover-up

The Guardian - UK November 26, 2009

Child abuse: a victim's reaction


'This report proves what we were saying all along was the truth'




In the 1960s, from the age of two, Patrick Walsh and his brothers were locked away at the notorious Artane industrial school in north Dublin.

While there he suffered severe physical abuse at the hands of Christian Brothers, the Catholic order charged with running the schools across Ireland.

He suffered more torment after one of his brothers escaped from Artane, and was regularly subjected to savage beatings and other physical punishments.

He is now a businessman living in Camden, north London



It's a long time coming, both the report and the exposé of the sheer depth and scale of this abuse, and the cover-up.

I am not surprised about the revelations over the gardai ignoring the abuse. After all, there was a toxic nexus between church and state. Law enforcers went out of their way to assist their friends in the church. Children that ran away from Artane and other industrial schools were pursued with vigour by the gardai.

In 1968 I was subjected to a rigorous interrogation by gardai over my brother's escape from Artane. I realised way back then that the gardai were in collusion with the church and the religious orders.

It was obvious they were in cahoots and that is why I did not help the gardai at the time.

Now is the time for the pope to appoint a special representative to Ireland who will help the civil authorities to investigate all the other dioceses and the cover-up of abuse that went on there.

Do we feel vindicated? Absolutely! We kept saying for decades that this was going on and everyone turned a blind eye. This report proves what we were saying all along was the complete truth.

This article was found at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/26/child-abuse-ireland-catholic-church