𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐱 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧, 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐩. 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐚𝐢, 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐬 𝐎𝐦𝐛𝐮𝐝𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐝

When it comes to exposing child sexual abuse by religious orders, the Irish media does not hesitate. Headlines scream, documentaries are commissioned, and survivors’ stories are shared with righteous outrage. Yet when the same horrors are perpetrated under the watch of the State, through Tusla, the family courts, An Garda Síochána, successive ministers, and even the Ombudsman for Children, a deafening silence descends. This double standard is not an abstract complaint. I have lived it. In November 2018 I led a group of women, among them a senior HSE clinical psychologist, two CEOs of established women’s advocacy groups, a domestic violence support worker with a legal background, and mothers who had lost their children to abusers, to a meeting in Leinster House with

ABC for Justice

@AllianceBirth

MEP, the former Minister for Children who had overseen Tusla’s creation. We handed her evidence and testimonies showing systemic failures: months long delays before children alleging sexual abuse were interviewed, only 16 social workers trained to handle such cases in the entire country, and no defined protocol for joint Garda Tusla investigations. We raised the scandal of Section 47 reports in the family courts, where unregulated “experts” could accuse protective mothers of “parental alienation,” and where contact with the accused parent was routinely prioritised over the child’s safety. We warned her that the in camera rule shielded malpractice and inconsistency from public scrutiny. We pointed to the failures at St Clares Child Sexual Abuse Unit in Temple Street Hospital, where inconclusive cases once recorded as “unproven” were now filed away as “unfounded,” effectively labelling children as liars. Fitzgerald listened carefully, promised to follow up, and passed the matter over to her officials. But nothing changed. It must be noted that Frances Fitzgerald’s husband, Professor Michael Fitzgerald, is not just one of the country’s most eminent and respected child psychiatrists, he has written reports on the sexual abuse of children whose mothers have contacted our Alliance seeking help. In April 2019 I brought another group of mothers to Leinster House to meet

@AnneRabbitte

, then

@fiannafailparty

’s spokesperson on children. She, too, seemed engaged and actually assisted in the setting up of our Alliance in Athlone in June 2019. I personally put her in contact with the mother of a child who was sexually abused who had just been handed over by the courts to her abuser. With a general election looming and ministerial ambitions in sight, she cut us off and ceased returning phone calls. She stayed silent on the issue of child sex abuse coverups and was unavailable to our Alliance after she was appointed a junior minister in the Department of Children in 2020. In 2022 veteran

@FineGael

TD Bernard Durkan broke ranks. He raised the issue of the skullduggery taking place in the family courts on almost 40 occasions in the Dáil until the election was held in November 2024. Deputy Durkan told the Dáil more than 100 mothers had contacted him on how they were abused in the secret family courts. Under parliamentary privilege he even named a court appointed “expert” who had accused mothers of alienation when they reported child sex abuse, leading to custody being handed to the alleged abuser. On at least one occasion, presidential hopeful, Deputy

@catherinegalway

threatened to suspend the Dáil when she was in the chair if he persisted in disclosing what is happening to mothers in the secret family courts.

10:51 AM · Aug 25, 2025

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