THERE IS an allegation that a child was abused for 12 years. That child, now an adult, continues to say the allegation is true. It all happened in a family.
One member of that family is a presidential candidate. The alleged abuser is a brother of, but more importantly, works very closely with the presidential candidate, who continues to maintain his innocence in the absence of investigation.
If that candidate was David Norris, I would be saying he should leave the race. I cannot, in conscience, say anything different just because the candidate involved is Dana Rosemary Scallon.
I happen to like Dana a great deal. I have only had a proper conversation with her four or five times, but each time I felt I was speaking to a sincere and good human being. I have written before of how I mentioned to her once that my mother-in-law, Pat, was very ill. Dana was in the middle of her first presidential campaign.
Unusually, I was still in my mother-in-law’s house at about 10.30 one night. The doorbell rang, and it was Dana. She told me Pat was on her mind, and since she was passing through Naas, and one of her workers knew where Pat lived, she decided to call in.
Pat had cancer, from which she subsequently died, but her face lit up when she saw her visitor. In fact, the picture on her memoriam card is one taken that night, and her face is aglow with happiness. A simple act of kindness, and one which would not have gained Dana a single extra vote, because all the votes in that house were spoken for, one way or another.
So it gives me no pleasure at all to suggest Dana’s position is untenable. But it is. You cannot simply call something a “vile allegation” and leave it at that if there has not been a proper investigation.
Allegations are not always true. You have only to think of the recent case involving Fr Kevin Reynolds, and the 372-word apology issued by RTÉ for baseless claims it made against him that he had fathered a child through rape.
Despite his request not to broadcast the allegations until he had had a chance to undergo a paternity test, the programme went ahead. Fr Reynolds had to stand down from ministry, with all the trauma that involves.
However, an allegation cannot be dismissed lightly. The allegation against Dana’s brother emerged during a bitter legal action taken by family members against each other. Dana has indicated that she does not believe it to be true, because no action was taken to charge her brother.
Many victims do not feel able to take action for years afterwards, and some can never face the idea of a criminal trial.
You cannot simply say that an allegation regarding sexual abuse of a child is a lie, and say you are trying to put it behind you.
Far from being victimised about this, Dana is receiving very little media pressure. Remember Adi Roche, and how allegations about her brother were used against her?
Don Mullan's book, Speaking Truth to Power,describes how Adi Roche told Labour handlers about her brother being "retired", as opposed to court-martialled, as an Army officer by President Eamon de Valera in 1969. Her brother had allegedly been associating with members of Saor Éire, a splinter Republican group.
While it would not be seemly for a president, as supreme commander of the armed forces, to have a brother who was “retired” from those same armed forces, this particular case was considered of little import by her campaign team because the events in question happened decades before. How wrong her handlers were. (There is an ongoing review of her brother’s case. David Norris was one of those who pushed for a review.)
Perhaps Dana is receiving so little pressure because people feel sorry for her, the public are fond of her, or she is seen as representing a minority even within Catholicism.
We have a lot of denial around child abuse in Ireland. We focus on the abuse committed by clergy, which, horrendous as it is, represents some 3 per cent of all cases, according to the Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland (SAVI) report.
We also focus almost exclusively on sexual abuse, to the detriment of other forms, including the most common – neglect. Dr Helen Buckley of Trinity College, the independent chair of National Review Panel for Serious Incidents and Child Deaths, and co-author of the Ferns report, was recently quoted in the Irish Catholicdescribing as "rubbish" Eamon Gilmore's assertion that this Government was committed to child protection, in the light of proposals to cut funding to child and family support charities.
She said: “This Government doesn’t understand what child protection is. Their version of child protection is strengthening legislation which affects about 5 per cent of children.What they are actually doing is cutting back on child protection.”
Dana will not be president, barring a first-class miracle.
She could do something symbolic by showing she understands the demands of child protection, and gracefully stand aside until these allegations are cleared up.