St John Ambulance must not ‘sit on’ child abuse report

Politicians have called on St John Ambulance to publish the full report into historical child sex abuse in the voluntary first-aid organisation as soon as possible.

The report was carried out by child law expert Dr Geoffrey Shannon SC and sent to the board of the organisation in late November.

The organisation has said it will publish the independent investigation after the “relevant legal, insurance and data protection review has taken place”.

It is expected the report will not be published until at least early next year, one source said.

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Independent Senator Lynn Ruane, who first called for an inquiry into the past abuse, said there needed to be a “quick turnaround” to get the report into the public domain. “The longer it takes, the more you’re delaying justice and truth,” she said.

Ms Ruane said any attempt by the organisation to publish a redacted version of the report would be “unacceptable”.

Chris Andrews, Sinn Féin TD, said St John Ambulance could not be allowed to “sit on” the completed report.

Delaying publishing the findings was “very unfair” to the survivors of past abuse in the organisation. “A lot of people have been hurt, delays to publishing will add to that hurt,” he said.

Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman needed to “bring all the weight he has to bear” on the organisation if they dragged their feet on the matter, he said.

The organisation could not be allowed to use “legal reasons” as an excuse to delay or withhold publication, he said.

The review was commissioned after The Irish Times reported that several men had allegedly been sexually abused by a senior figure in the organisation’s Old Kilmainham division in Dublin in the 1990s.

The alleged perpetrator, now in his 80s, was a member of the organisation from the 1950s until about 2000, leaving after one survivor reported the alleged abuse.

Tusla, the State child and family agency, deemed child abuse allegations made against the man to be “founded”, following its own statutory investigation in recent years

To date nine men have spoken to The Irish Times alleging they were sexually abused by the same former senior figure, with the alleged abuse reported to have taken place between the late 1960s and late 1990s.

The sexual abuse is alleged to have happened while on first aid duties, in the back of ambulances, in the man’s home, as well as on weekend trips organised for groups of youth members by the individual, where alcohol would be supplied.

Several survivors recalled how the alleged abuse would begin under the guise of first aid training, where the man would demonstrate how to take a person’s pulse at the femoral artery along the upper thigh and groin.

Dr Shannon was appointed in March 2021 to carry out the independent investigation, which included reviewing records and interviewing alleged abuse victims, as well as current and former volunteers. His report examined how past allegations of child abuse were handled, as well as reviewing current child protection policies.

Last month the Seanad passed a cross-party motion calling for St John Ambulance to publish the completed report without delay.

The Garda reopened a criminal investigation into the alleged perpetrator earlier this year, after two survivors reported their alleged abuse to gardaí.

Four other survivors had previously reported their alleged abuse to gardaí, but in each case the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) opted against pursuing a prosecution.