St John Ambulance say ‘substantial progress’ made towards abuse report publication

St John Ambulance has said “substantial progress” has been made towards the publication of an independent report into historical child sex abuse in the first aid organisation, following a review of the findings by its board.

Dr Geoffrey Shannon, a leading child law expert, conducted the independent investigation over more than a year and a half and sent his report to the organisation’s board in late November.

While the organisation had committed to publish the report, it said its board first needed to review the findings of Dr Shannon’s work.

Survivors and politicians have criticised the delay in the report being published.

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In a February 24th letter, the organisation told survivors “substantial progress” had been made by the board in reviewing the report, with that internal process “nearing completion”.

It said it expected to be able to write to survivors next week “to confirm logistics for publication”, in order to provide survivors with an advanced copy ahead of the report’s wider publication.

“As a board, we completely appreciate that you are eager to review the report. We also understand that this time waiting has not been easy. As such, we are immensely grateful to you for your patience as we undertook what was a necessary review prior to publication,” the letter stated.

The organisation added it would also like to give survivors an opportunity to meet with senior officers of St John Ambulance as part of the process.

The investigation by Dr Shannon was commissioned following a series of reports in The Irish Times revealing alleged abuse by a former senior figure in the organisation’s Old Kilmainham division in Dublin.

To date, at least nine men have alleged they were sexually abused by the same former senior figure, between the late 1960s and late 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.

One survivor, Mick Finnegan (39) has been staging a protest outside the offices of St John Ambulance on Leeson Street for the last 19 days to call for the publication of the report.

Speaking in the Seanad on Wednesday, Fine Gael Senator Mary Seery Kearney called for sporting bodies who use St John Ambulance services at sporting matches to cease doing so until the organisation published Dr Shannon’s report.