Alliance Support Group


March 2007 Archives

Churches should practise what they preach

Sat, Mar 31, 2007 Well Holy God, isn't it great! Or, as Christy Moore sang in Lisdoonvarna, ". . . isn't it grand." There sitting side-by-side, albeit at an angle, the ?ber-British, pope-hating Rev Ian Paisley and traditional Catholic,...
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Redress Board Questions

What happens if you have already been to court and lost your case? Can you now go to the Redress Board? If you have had a hearing of your case and a decision from the courts in connection with the...
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"Tears on my Pillow"

Dear Tom, hope that you are keeping well and keeping up the good work. Just to let you know that my book will be out by the end of April, which is when I will get my copies, although I...
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MANNIX FLYNN REPLIES TO CHRISTIAN BROTHERS

On 22 March I sent you my essay entitled "Cynthia Owen and Mannix Flynn". This includes Brighid McLaughlin's article about Mannix Flynn in the Sunday Independent on 22 December 2002 AND the strong response by the Christian Brothers to...
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?Hell Exists"

We have recently learnt that POPE Benedict XVI says society is not doing enough to scare sinners by telling them that they will go to Hell. ?Hell exists and there is eternal punishment for those who sin and do not...
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Bishops and school boards

Friday March 30th 2007 Following a recent court case, the Department of Education has advised abuse victims to seek redress from the board of management of the school where the abuse took place. Boards of management seem to bear a...
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Court clears way for priest's indecent assault trial

Wednesday March 28th 2007 The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the DPP to try a 70-year-old priest on charges of indecently assaulting a teenage girl in the north-east in the early 1980s. It overturned a ruling by...
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Ahern defends Govt stance on abuse compensation claims

28/03/2007 - 11:29:39 The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has defended the Government's refusal to accept legal responsibility for the abuse of children in Irish schools. Last week, a TV documentary revealed that the State was contesting a number of sex...
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Portrait of a paedophile

Oliver O'Grady, an Irish Priest Wed, Mar 28, 2007 A documentary with frank confessions from an Irish priest who abused children in the US, and who now lives in Ireland, makes unsettling viewing. Director Amy Berg talks to Michael...
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MENTALLY ILL WOMAN STABS "CHILD ABUSER" FATHER

[ Some people will say this episode is not significant because the woman is mentally ill. Since when have mentally ill people started to make false allegations of child abuse? Only since they have been encouraged to do so...
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Ferns abuse victims face pay-out delay

27 March 2007 By Caroline O?Doherty VICTIMS of clerical child sex abuse in the Diocese of Ferns could face delays in receiving compensation because of a dispute between the diocese and the Government over legal fees. The diocese owes...
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?Abuse Victims Group Criticises Lawyers over Fee"

May we refer to the article ?Abuse Victims Group Criticises Lawyers over Fee? by Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent in The Irish Times dated 26th March 2007? We wish to point out to Mick Waters that there are many victims...
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Abuse victims' group criticises lawyers over fee

Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent Mon, Mar 26, 2007 Some solicitors have been encouraging futile late applications to the Residential Institutions Redress Board by former residents at industrial schools and reformatories, so they can collect a substantial fee, the...
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Victims seek help in record numbers after RT? expos

24 March 2007 By Conor Ryan ADULT child abuse victims have been contacting crisis helplines in record numbers following Wednesday night?s Prime Time expos? on RT?. More than 70 people contacted Dublin Rape Crisis Centre?s helpline immediately after two linked...
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Anger at report of State's letter to victims of abuse

Anger at report of State's letter to victims of abuse Jimmy Walsh Sat, Mar 24, 2007 Seanad:As someone who had worked in government, he had long held the view that the State must have duties towards its citizens and must...
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Hanafin 'did not know' of letter

Ronan McGreevy Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said yesterday she did not know in advance of a controversial letter sent to alleged victims of child sexual abuse. The letters, which warned recipients they would be pursued for their costs...
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Outrage at letter threat to sex abuse claimants

Saturday March 24th 2007 THE Government has come under fire for threatening 248 people who claim they were sexually abused at school and are taking legal action against the State. They have separately initiated action against the Department of...
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Those Who Trespass Against Us:

About the Author Toni O'Keeffe grew up in Vancouver BC and is the second eldest child of Walter and Monica O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe has been a professional business writer and communicator for over twenty years. She has now put her...
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Hanafin warned on sexual abuse liability

Hanafin warned on sexual abuse liability Friday, 23 March 2007 15:50 The Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, has been warned that board of management liability in sexual abuse cases will make recruitment to the voluntary boards more difficult. The...
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??600m more needed for child abuse awards?

May we refer to the article ??600m more needed for child abuse awards? by Geraldine Collins and Michael Brennan in the Irish Independent dated 23rd March 2007. It should be quite clear to the Minister for Education & Science Ms....
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CYNTHIA OWEN AND MANNIX FLYNN

In recent years there have been a number of child abuse "scandals" that have nothing to do with the Catholic Church. I have written about the case of a man who was banned from a pub and started to...
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?600m more now needed for child abuse awards

Friday March 23rd 2007 THE compensation bill for victims of child abuse is set to cost taxpayers over ?1bn. Education Minister Mary Hanafin revealed last night that the Residential Institutions Redress Board will require a further ?600m in addition...
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Those Who Trespass Against Us

I have cut and pasted the information below from the publishers site. It is a great but sad, story based on the life of Walter O'Keeffe, who grew up in Greenmont Industrial School and was abused. He settled his...
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?Church Lands Fall Short on State Abuse Bill?

May we refer to the article ?Church Lands Fall Short on State Abuse Bill? by Pat Leahy, Political Correspondent dated 18th March 2007? It should be quite clear to all parties concerned that the Irish religious orders have reaped earthly...
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THE PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY: PADDY CROSBIE'S FUNNY INCIDENTS (3)

(from "Your Dinner's Poured Out" - Chapter 18 "The School Around the Corner") 'The School Around The Corner' is St. Paul's Christian Brother's School, North Brunswick St (aka "Brunner") where Paddy Crosbie taught for 44 years until 1978. (1)...
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FALSE RAPE ALLEGATION:

FALSE RAPE ALLEGATION: "Duke University: The larger tragedy" by Thomas Sowell, Syndicated columnist for 'The Picayune Item' 7 February 2007 [This relates to a bogus allegation of rape at Duke University, North Carolina, USA in March 2006. The accuser was...
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THE PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY (2)

THE PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY - PADDY CROSBIE AND THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERS (2) The following extracts are from Chapter 18 of 'Your Dinner?s Poured Out?- the chapter entitled 'The School Around the Corner'. Paddy Crosbie talks about his teachers, especially...
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Church lands fall short on state abuse bill

18 March 2007 By Pat Leahy, Political Correspondent Only a small number of properties handed over to the state by the Catholic Church to part-fund the bill for the victims of physical and sexual abuse in religious institutions have...
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Abuse claim against order dismissed as 'too vague'

Saturday March 17th 2007 Action taken by woman (70), would be 'parody of justice' if allowed to proceed A WOMAN who claimed she was badly treated in an unmarried mothers' home run by a religious order has had her action...
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Sex abuse bills leave diocese fearing a cash crisis

Friday March 16th 2007 Unpaid legal fees adding to pressure THE Diocese of Ferns is facing a cash crisis over the huge cost of meeting sexual abuse compensation claims. The Government is still to settle a ?2.7m legal bill...
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SISTER XAVIERA, GOLDENBRIDGE AND FOREIGN ADOPTIONS

You will note that the following article from the Irish Law Archives in 1996, has a somewhat curious title - "The Past Comes Back to Haunt". You would expect to find another horror story about vile priests and nuns...
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?TV Humiliation for Abusers?

May we refer to the article ?TV Humiliation for Abusers? by James A Gleeson in the Irish Independent dated 10th March 2007? It appears that James A Gleeson pities the convicted child abuser, Fr Ronald Bennett. The elderly cleric was...
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THE PAST IS ANOTHER COUNTRY- THEY DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY THERE.

Paddy Crosbie was a famous teacher and broadcaster. He went to St Paul's Christian Brothers School in North Brunswick St in the 1920s and later spent decades teaching there - until the 1970s. The following is an extract from...
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MAN BANNED FROM PUB, CLAIMS PUBLICAN IS PAEDOPHILE

Lying allegations against Catholic clergy were quickly followed by similar allegations against lay teachers and workers in centres for young offenders. The next stage was to attack other authority figures - like the Gardai and even a publican who...
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ATTACKED YOUNG MAN OVER FALSE PAEDOPHILE CLAIMS

Evening Herald, 13 March 2007 by Sonya McLean [This is the inevitable outcome of more than a decade's ranting about "paedophile priests" - a lynch mob attack on a Chinese student who is wrongly suspected of having molested two...
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Dignity of a sex predator

Wednesday March 14th 2007 As a former pupil of Gormanston College who has spoken to victims of "Fr" Ronald Bennett OFM, can I say the concern of James Gleeson for the "dignity" of Bennett is misplaced (Letters, March 10). From...
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Priest says Ireland now 'secularised, vulgarised'

Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent Tue, Mar 13, 2007 Ireland has been described as "an increasingly secularised and vulgarised country" where "Paddy's Week is descending into an excuse for mindless alcohol-fuelled revelry". Fr Vincent Twomey, emeritus professor of moral...
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CATHOLICS AND DEGENERATES

Ladies, Gentlemen and Scholars, "I know that some people raised as Catholics blame the Church of Rome for their difficulties in later life, nourishing a particularly degenerate literary genre." - Quote from Michael Fitzpatrick's article on "The Dawkins Delusion" dated...
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PRISON TERM FOR MUM WHO SAID THAT BOY RAPED CHILD

Evening Herald, Saturday, 10 March 2007 by Jane Last A mother who falsely alleged her eight-year-old daughter was raped by a teenage neighbour has been sentenced to 11 months in prison. The woman from Co Offaly made a complaint...
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"THE DAWKINS DELUSION" AS SEEN BY A CATHOLIC ATHEIST

[I sent you material by evangelical Christian Tom Gilson. It seems only fair to follow it up with Catholic atheist Michael Fitzpatrick. His article is a review of "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins. I have frequently emphasised the...
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If Bishops had been married

Saturday March 10th 2007 I was appalled that a former Taoiseach stated: "If most of the Bishops had been married and with children of their own they would surely have reacted quite differently to this scandal" of child abuse. challenge...
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Jailed priest was in regular contact with abuse swim coaches

Saturday March 10th 2007 A PRIEST jailed this week for sexually abusing pupils was heavily involved in underage swimming, and regularly dealt with both Derry O'Rourke and George Gibney. Fr Ronald Bennett (72), a former spiritual director at Gormanstown College,...
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TV humiliation for abusers

Saturday March 10th 2007 RTE could have exercised some discretion with their cameras in last Monday evening's news item regarding convicted child abuser, Fr Ronald Bennett. The elderly cleric was shown being dragged from the dock to his cell at...
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RELIGION IS NOT CHILD ABUSE

RELIGION IS NOT CHILD ABUSE (in spite of what Richard Dawkins says!) "Religion isn't Bad for Kids"- article by Tom Gilson, 10 February 2007 [Since Tom Gilson is a director of the organisation "Campus Crusade for Christ" one might suspect...
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New law closes 'child soliciting' loophole

Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent Wed, Mar 07, 2007 Emergency legislation to ensure that adults can be prosecuted for soliciting sexual acts from children was passed by the D?il last night following the Labour Party's highlighting of a loophole last...
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Govt publishes child solicitation legislation

Tuesday, 6 March 2007 14:01 The Government has published emergency legislation to close a loophole in the laws protecting children from sexual predators. The law is due to be passed by the D?il tonight and the Seanad tomorrow. It will...
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Court increases priest's prison sentence

Monday, 5 March 2007 20:56 The Court of Criminal Appeal has ruled that a suspended sentence imposed on a former spiritual director of a Co Meath school for indecently assaulting young boys did not adequately recognise the seriousness of the...
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RICHARD DAWKINS: CATHOLICISM IS WORSE THAN CHILD ABUSE

This is from a humanist website that SUPPORTS Dawkins so you can be sure that they are not misrepresenting their hero. Again Dawkins views indicate how witch-hunts originate among the elite of society and penetrate downwards. The fish always...
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Does the Irish Government have any respect for the Constitution

In the aftermath of the resignation of Justice Ms Mary Laffoy in September 2003. Does the Irish Government have any respect for the Constitution, the basic law of Ireland? The Judges letter of resignation can be summarised as a...
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Top Barrister calls for 15-year Limit on Sex Abuse Trials

Irish Examiner, 30 May 2005 by John Breslin A STATUTE of limitations should be placed on criminal proceedings taken against those accused of sexual abuse, one of the country's leading defence barristers told a conference this weekend. Patrick Gageby,...
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DEFENSE COUNSEL CALLS FOR TIME LIMIT IN SEX CASES

Irish Times, 30 May 2005 by Carol Coulter There is a need for a limit on the time allowed to elapse between an alleged sex crime and the prosecution of the suspect, according to a leading defence counsel. Otherwise...
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Parties ignore child rights, says outgoing ISPCC head

Kitty Holland Sat, Mar 03, 2007 No political party is serious about creating a society which puts the rights of children first, the outgoing chief executive of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (ISPCC) has...
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Fears of more legal child-sex loopholes

Saturday March 3rd 2007 'Rushed' laws row as McDowell plans to quash current glitch FEARS of more child sex legal loopholes were raised last night as the Government moved to close off the one highlighted earlier this week. Special...
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?A ?wake ? Up Call?

May we refer to the article ?A ?wake ? Up Call? ? Lenihan? by John Downes in The Irish Times dated 1st March 2007. The Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, said that the publication of the report into the state...
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?No right to preach at us?

May we refer to the article ?No right to preach at us? by Michael Martin dated 1st March 2007. We totally agree with Michael Martins response to John Cooney?s article in the Irish Independent dated 24th February 2007 especially his...
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A 'wake-up call' - Lenihan

John Downes Thu, Mar 01, 2007 The Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, yesterday acknowledged that the publication of the report into the state of the nation's children had raised several issues of concern and was a "wake-up call" to...
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No right to preach at us

Thursday March 1st 2007 John Cooney reports that Dr Diarmuid Martin advocates a Church State Forum where political and church leaders can tackle "the collapse of values in society arising from secularisation and materialism" (Irish Independnet, February 24). As...
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LAWYER TO REVIEW HOUSE OF HORROR FILE

Evening Herald, 26 February 2007 by Isobel Hurley [Here's hoping that a full public inquiry is held! Otherwise we will never hear the end of this story and further allegations will be added as time goes on and more...
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