A man who raised concerns about child abuse in 1982 told a Dáil committee yesterday that some proposed amendments to a Bill governing the child abuse commission will allow those involved to avoid "facing up to the realities of their actions or inactions."
Mr Timothy O'Rourke, representing victims of the teacher and former Christian Brother Donal Dunne, said the abuse of children in schools and institutions had, by the late 1980s, been reported to both the Departments of Education and Health.
But it was clear there were "frequent and massive failures to deal with the problem." The conduct of the Department of Education required an investigation in itself, while the roles of other Government departments also needed to be examined, he said.
"While trying to report what had happened to myself and many of my friends, in a national school, I was told by very reliable people within the education system and political life of their knowledge and concerns about many other cases where sexual abuse was believed to have occurred," he said.
But plans to introduce "sampling" of witnesses and of the evidence they presented would limit the ability of the commission to operate, Mr O'Rourke said.
The use of "sampling" at previous hearings into the emergence of abuse did not work, he said, and meant important evidence, including his own, was not heard. Only a "very small handful" of day school students would have their cases heard, he added. Victims were willing to do all they could to limit the costs of the inquiry. But there was both a human cost and a financial cost to abuse.
"There are so many people waiting to get some form of justice," he said. "I don't see myself as a survivor yet. I will be when I get through it."
The proposed removal of the requirement for the commission to make findings that individuals had committed abuse would also not end the controversy, he said.
"General findings that abuse occurred will not be enough to counter the denials that we have become accustomed to," he said.
In his submission, Mr O'Rourke detailed his attempts to raise concerns about the extent of sexual abuse in schools and institutions.
These started with a letter of complaint about Donal Dunne dated May 24th, 1982 that was seen by several senior officials. He subsequently wrote to the then minister for education, Gemma Hussey and minister for health, Barry Desmond about the issue.
"There was enough evidence by 1986 for some investigation to have taken place into institutional and school abuse," Mr O'Rourke said.
The Commission to Inquire into Child abuse (Amendment) Bill 2005 is due to be debated by the Education and Science Committee next Tuesday.