Sir, - Dermot Feenan (February 2nd) demonstrates quite clearly the compelling case for removing the legislative time bar to adult survivors of child rape and sexual abuse who wish to begin legal proceedings against their abuser or any other person or body who negligently facilitated the continuation of the wrongdoing.
Sophia McColgan not only had to take a brave and courageous stand against the person who raped her as a child but also against the North Western Health Board and Dr Moran who, she alleged, negligently failed to arrest her abusive circumstances.
In her recently High Court action, counsel for the North Western Health Board went to great lengths to prevent the admission of evidence about the board's handling of her case and also the right she was asserting to take such proceedings despite the time lapse between her abuse and the start of her civil action.
In light of the legal difficulties faced by Sophia McColgan, especially those posed by the Statute of Limitations, one might expect the Government to move quickly to amend the law in order to remove all time limits in sex abuse cases.
However, there still remain great obstacles to the survivors of sex abuse getting the understanding and protection they deserve from the State and the legal system.
Recently the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, was asked in the Dail how many clergy had been found guilty in the past five years of child sex abuse, how many offences they had been charged with and the number of offenders in prison. The Minister said that his Department did not categorise prisoners by occupation and added that such information could be obtained only "by a disproportionate expenditure of staff time and resources".
Bearing in mind the seemingly unending number of court cases involving child rape and sexual abuse, it is now incumbent on the Government, and particularly Mr O'Donoghue, to state clearly if and when the legal time limit for adult survivors initiating legal proceedings will be removed. - Yours, etc., Maurice Sheehan,
Hanover Court, Francis Street, Dublin 8.