Politics and Pedophiles

'I'm experiencing resistance', says new HSE children's director

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:35:59 +1100

Fresh from introducing child protection reform in the Dublin archdiocese, Philip Garland faces other hurdles in the HSE, writes JAMIE SMYTH

THE GOVERNMENT needs to change the way it deals with children’s rights and should guarantee life-long support for people who grow up in State care, a senior HSE director has said.

Philip Garland, assistant national director for children and families at the HSE, also warned that current Government policies towards unaccompanied children who come to the Republic to seek asylum could be “racist”.

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“One of the problems is that if you are an Irish child you are protected under the Childcare Act, because when you hit 18 years of age the State continues to look after you. But if you are an African or Chinese child you are sent all around the country by the refugee agency – away from all the support structures and people you know in Dublin,” said Garland, who took up the post with the HSE last November.

Garland, who worked for the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin for six years before being appointed to his current post in the HSE, said there needed to be a change of culture in how the State and the church dealt with children in the Republic. Appointed by Cardinal Desmond Connell to deal with the clerical child sex abuse in the Church, he introduced child protection reforms in the Dublin archdiocese.

“One of my main goals was to ensure that this could never happen again by putting safeguard mechanisms in place. These are now in place in 200 parishes around the country,” said Mr Garland, who is currently overseeing a HSE audit of child protection policies in all dioceses and among all religious orders.

He said the HSE audit report would be given to Government next month. He confirmed the dioceses had complied with the new audit, but he refused to comment on the position of the religious orders.

The church was strongly criticised for not complying with a previous HSE audit in 2009. The Ombudsman for Children also criticised the HSE for its failure to conclude the audit effectively.

Mr Garland praised the current Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, who has faced criticism from some priests over his handling of the Murphy report.

“I think the way Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has handled the fall-out from the publication of the Murphy report is spot on. The guy stood up to the plate on his own and in the absence of collective leadership and he addressed the issue. I admire and respect him for that,” said Garland, who acknowledged that change can cause resentment.

He said he faced similar problems at the HSE.

“I’m experiencing resistance now in the HSE. Change means challenging the status quo. That causes anxiety for people and can lead to resistance to change. The challenge is to stay focused on what is in the best interests of children. I believe if you stay focused on the best interests of children then reasonable people will come with you,” he said.

The challenges for the HSE were huge because of inconsistent structures, systems and practices across its 32 local health areas, he added. This can only present risk and had to be addressed.

The organisation also faces financial challenges. “Everything in the HSE at the moment is about cutting spending, slashing spending, but in my area we are increasing costs,” said Garland, who cited the recent deal to provide carers in hostels for separated children.

Garland said he had asked the office of the Minister for Children Barry Andrews to pass new laws guaranteeing lifelong State support to all children who are brought up in the care system.

“I want the State to change the legislation on aftercare for over-18s. For kids in care who don’t have stable parents I want the State to become a parent for life. Its about a change in legislation and a change in culture,” he said.

Under the Childcare Act, Irish children have the option of accessing aftercare services from the HSE until they are 21 years.

Garland said many of the 5,900 people in State care may still need support when they are 40 or 60, not just between 18 and 21 years.

He said the proposed children’s rights referendum should help to embed children’s rights in everything the State did.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/i...54434.html

GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS,THE CIA,& CORPORATE HEADS REALLY LOVE THE CHILDREN.I MEAN REALLY LOVE THE CHILDREN

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:57:50 +1100

THE FOLLOWING REPORT IS FROM FORMER CIA ANALYST AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST WAYNE MADSEN;”Wednesday, December 30, 2009

By Wayne Madsen/Rock Creek Free Press

A top US intelligence source told WMR (Wayne Madsen Reports) that the CIA’s involvement in procuring children in Thailand for the purpose of engaging in sexual trysts with visiting VIPs from the United States, including members of Congress and high administration officials, began in earnest in 1978.

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In fact, WMR has been told, the operations at one point in time were run out of the CIA station in Bangkok and were directed by the deputy chief of station. The CIA station cooperated with American “procurers” who were working in Thailand to arrange for the encounters between children and the VIPs. The CIA’s motivation was simple: the VIPs were later subject to blackmail if they failed to support the incumbent administration’s policies.

WMR reported in February 2008, on US diplomats and intelligence agents in Southeast Asia who have participated, aided, and abetted in the sexual abuse and trafficking of children. Since that time, the only bright spot was the December 2007 early retirement and departure of US ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce, who was repeatedly accused over the years of failing to take action against US diplomats and their local interlocutors in countries where he was assigned as ambassador, including Thailand and Indonesia.

WMR has also learned that the CIA is pressuring local media outlets that report on the widespread abuse of children involving Americans in general and diplomats and American VIPs in particular. Some of the money used to silence the local media is being laundered by the agency through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

This editor has personally requested assistance from Congress to investigate and curtail the sexual abuse of children by US diplomats and intelligence agents. However, given the fact that the abuse also involves members of Congress and their staff, the requests have been met with stony silence.

One major problem for the activists is that many ‘established’ and ‘recognized’ non-government organizations (NGOs) dedicated to the anti-pedophile cause are ciphers for larger organizations that want to divert attention and obfuscate about the actual perpetrators of pedophile activities. These include local NGOs supported by the Roman Catholic Church and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID has long been a financial pass-through for the CIA.”

On July 16, 2007, WMR reported that the US Embassy in Bangkok’s Homeland Security office and CIA station assisted in exfiltrating John Mark Karr, arrested by Thai police on sex charges but later accused of murdering Jon Benet Ramsey. All criminal charges against Karr were later dropped.

“Karr had been charged with previous child pornography crimes in the United States. After he jumped bail in the United States before his California trial on child pornography charges, Karr surfaced in various countries known as havens for pedophiles — Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Honduras, South Korea, and finally, Thailand. In Thailand, Karr ended up teaching affluent Thai and foreign children at three elite international schools in Bangkok.

Karr, it will be remembered, publicly claimed after his arrest in Thailand in 2007, to have been present at the murder of 6-year old Jon Benet Ramsey in 1996 in Boulder, Colorado.

After Karr was arrested by Thai police on what was reported to be “unspecified sex charges” the US embassy, the CIA station in Bangkok, and the Department of Homeland Security, arranged for Karr’s hasty departure from Thailand to face charges in the Ramsey murder case. Karr was flown, un-handcuffed and sipping champagne, in business class from Bangkok to Los Angeles on Thai International Airways, courtesy of the American taxpayer. Why?

For a California schoolteacher, arrested in April 2001 for possession of child pornography, losing his teaching license, and vanishing into thin air after serving six months in a California jail, Karr led a charmed life in an upscale neighborhood of Bangkok. After Boulder, Colorado authorities determined that Karr lied about killing Ramsey, Sonoma County, California prosecutors discovered that the computer containing the child pornography images for which Karr was originally arrested in April 2001 was missing. As a result, all criminal charges from that case were dropped against Karr.

End of story?

Not quite. Karr is a public face for the tip of a huge pedophile iceberg operating within the bowels of America’s diplomatic and foreign business communities in Asia.

Former Jakarta Post editor Finnegan believes that John Mark Karr was a typical intelligence ‘cut out’ for the embassy in Bangkok, one whose major job for the embassy was to procure underage children for sex with visiting VIPs and senior diplomats. In fact, Bangkok is a major stopping point for US members of Congress on “junkets.” This editor has identified a number of House members who have visited Bangkok on numerous occasions. All of them are Republicans.

Because Karr was smart enough to spread out incriminating evidence he possessed of embassy involvement, they had no other choice but to extricate him from Thailand when he ran afoul of the local authorities. It was under the protection of the US embassy that Karr was spirited out of Thailand. It is clear that the Ramsey story was a ruse cooked up by the US embassy to create such a firestorm of media attention that the Thai authorities, who had come under the rule of a military junta in a coup a few weeks earlier, had no other choice but to release Karr to the Americans.

One American anti-pedophile activist named Sean Parlaman investigated the smuggling of children from the Thai-Burmese border into Thailand and beyond for purposes of prostitution. In 1997, Parlaman wrote, “At an age when we would regard them as still being children, over a thousand young girls from northern Thailand are being lured every year into prostitution. Girls, as young as 10, are being sold to the brothels of Bangkok, other Thai cities and overseas.” The young girls would be spirited out of Thailand to places like Saipan in the US territory of the Northern Marianas, where they would be used as child laborers and prostitutes. Joining the children from the Thai-Burmese border were young underage Vietnamese girls spirited from Vietnam through Cambodia for further transport to Saipan.

The child sex slave and slave labor status quo in Saipan was pushed by such Republicans as Tom DeLay, Ralph Hall, then-Representative Bob Riley of Alabama, and James Doolittle. The reason for Saipan becoming the ‘Guantanamo Bay of child slavery and prostitution’ was simple — the island’s sweat shops and corrupt government had a powerful GOP lobbyist working for them, Jack Abramoff.

Parlaman’s crusade against pedophiles and their enablers eventually landed him in hot water with his enemies. –On September 30, 2002, Parlaman was accused by Thai police of sexually molesting a 12-year old boy who was staying at one of the dodgy street kids’ organizations that Parlaman felt were part of the problem, not the solution. No reputable person familiar with Parlaman’s work and dedication believed the story about his being a molester, including the reporters and editors of the Pattaya Mail newspaper.

When police arrived at Parlaman’s Star Beach Condominium on November 23, 2002, to take him to the police station for further questioning, Parlaman, meeting them in the lobby, told the police he had to go upstairs to give his car and condo keys to a friend for safekeeping. Police later claimed that Parlaman jumped from his 15th floor condo unit to his death.

Police quickly ceased their investigation of Parlaman for the alleged child abuse. Parlaman’s body was transported to the police forensics institute in Bangkok where it was autopsied and then cremated. The US embassy never intervened in the highly improper procedure for a US citizen who died from suspicious causes.

The confirmation about the CIA’s use of children for prostitution in Thailand is the first by any top US intelligence source and constitutes a major break in the story.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist, author and syndicated columnist. He is a frequent political and national security commentator on Television News and is a regular contributor to Russia Today. Madsen is the author of Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops & Brass Plates and Overthrow a Fascist Regime on $15 a Day.

-http://redactednews.blogspot.com/2009/12/cia-involved-in-child-sex-trade-since.html “

http://trumpetoftruth.wordpress.com/2...-children/

John Charles McQuaid Ruler of Catholic Ireland !

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:03:07 +1100

For three decades, 1940-72, as Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, John Charles McQuaid imposed his iron will on Irish politicians and instilled fear among his clergy and laity. No other churchman amassed the religious, political and social power which he exercised with unscrupulous severity.

An admirer of the FBI's J. Edgar Hoover, Archbishop McQuaid built up a vigilante system that spied on politicians and priests, workers and students, doctors and lawyers, nuns and nurses, soldiers and trade unionists. There was no room for dissent when John Charles spoke in the name of Jesus Christ. This power was used to build up a Catholic-dominated state in which Protestants, Jews and feminists were not welcome.

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The four archbishops of Dublin during the period covered by today's report into the handling of allegations of clerical child sex abuse. Clockwise (from top left) John Charles McQuaid, Dermot Ryan, Kevin McNamara and Desmond Connell.Related »
Counselling contact details | 26/11/2009How the story of abuse emerged | 26/11/2009Inquiries into clerical abuse allegations | 26/11/2009The Dublin commission: Background | 26/11/2009How the archbishops dealt with allegations | 26/11/2009Church used 'don't tell' approach | 26/11/2009The Dublin commission: Who's Who | 26/11/2009Garda apologises for failures | 26/11/2009Auxiliaries handled complaints 'badly' | 26/11/2009'A collar will protect no criminal' | 26/11/2009Full text of Government statement | 26/11/2009Vatican 'ignored' commission letters | 26/11/2009Church 'lied without lying' | 26/11/2009Calls for protection of children | 26/11/2009External »
Commission of Investigation, Dublin ArchdioceseArchdiocese of DublinDepartment of JusticeThe Irish Times takes no responsibility for the content
or availability of other websitesPATSY MCGARRY, Religious Affairs CorrespondentThe Commission of Investigation into Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese has concluded that there is “no doubt” that clerical child sexual abuse was covered up by the archdiocese and other Church authorities.

The commission’s report covers the period between January 1st 1975 and April 30th 2004. It said there cover-ups took place over much of this period.

In its report, published this afternoon, it has also found that “the structures and rules of the Catholic Church facilitated that cover-up.”

It also found that “the State authorities facilitated the cover-up by not fulfilling their responsibilities to ensure that the law was applied equally to all and allowing the Church institutions to be beyond the reach of the normal law enforcement processes.”

Over the period within its remit “the welfare of children, which should have been the first priority, was not even a factor to be considered in the early stages,” it said.

“Instead the focus was on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members – the priests,” it said.

In making its main findings, the report it concluded that “it is the responsibility of the State to ensure that no similar institutional immunity is ever allowed to occur again. This can be ensured only if all institutions are open to scrutiny and not accorded an exempted status by any organs of the State.”

The Dublin Archdiocese Commission of Investigation was set up on March 28th, 2006. It completed its report on July 21st last when it was presented to the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern.

Since then it has been sent twice to the High Court as there were concerns that publication of its contents in full might prejudice current proceedings against two men who face allegations of abuse and which it had investigated.

Following edits to the report, made by Mr Justice Paul Gilligan, the report was finally cleared for publication last Thursday.

The commission investigated allegations made against a sample of 46 priests, out of a total of 102 relevant to the period, and against whom 320 complaints had been made.

Where individual Archbishops of Dublin were concerned it found that Archbishop John Charles McQuaid - who held office from 1940 to 1972 - did not apply canon law where such allegations were concerned, though he was familiar with its requirements.

His dealings with Fr Edmondus in 1960 “were aimed at the avoidance of scandal and showed no concern for the welfare of children.”
Archbishop Dermot Ryan - who held office from 1972 to 1984 - “failed to properly investigate complaints” against any of the six priests dealt with by the Commission from his period in office. “He also ignored the advice given by a psychiatrist in the case of another priest (Fr Henry Moore) that he had placed in a parish setting.” It found that Fr Moore was subsequently convicted of a serious assault on a young teenager while working as a parish curate.

Archbishop Ryan also seemed to have adopted “a deliberate policy” to ensure that knowledge of problems involving accused priests “was as restricted as possible.” This resulted “in a disastrous lack of co-ordination in responding to problems.”

Archbishop Kevin McNamara - who held office from 1984 to 1987 - restored to ministry a priest, Fr Bill Carney, despite his having pleaded guilty to charges of child sex abuse in 1983 and despite suspicions about him where “numerous” other children were concerned. Fr Carney has since been laicized.

Archbishop McNamara also appointed Fr Ivan Payne, also since laicized, as Vice-Officialis of the Marriage Tribunal in Dublin even though Archbishop Ryan had previously refused to do so.

It was Archbishop McNamara who was first to take out insurance against possible claims for child abuse. He did so in March 1987 and all Catholic dioceses on the island of Ireland followed suit, excepting one.

Cardinal Desmond Connell, who held office as Archbishop from 1988 to April 2004, “was slow to recognise the seriousness of the situation” on assuming office. He was “over-reliant” on the advice of other people. While “clearly appalled by the abuse” it took him some time “to realize that it could not be dealt with by keeping it secret and protecting priests from normal civil processes.”

He showed “little understanding of the overall plight of victims” some of whom found him “remote and aloof” and some “sympathetic and kind.” However, and “on the other hand he did take an active interest in their civil litigation against the Archdiocese and personally approved the defences which were filed by the Archdiocese.”

Liability for injury and damage “was never admitted.” His strategies in civil cases, “while legally acceptable, often added to the hurt and grief of complainants.”

Where auxiliary bishops of Dublin over the period were concerned, the commission found that those who “dealt particularly badly with complaints” were Bishop Dermot O’Mahony (retired) and Bishop James Kavanagh (deceased). It found Bishop Donal Murray (currently Bishop of Limerick ) “also dealt badly with a number of complaints.”

Bishop Murray’s failure to reinvestigate earlier suspicions against Fr Thomas Naughton “was inexcusable.”

It also said the recently retired Bishop of Ossory, Dr Laurence Forristal, “was the only bishop to unequivocally admit in evidence to the commision that he may not have handled matters satisfactorily.”

It found that “there was a disturbing failure to accept responsibility on the part of the bishops who gave evidence. There was a tendency to blame the Archbishop and/or the chancellor” of the archdiocese.

Where priests of the archdiocese were concerned some were aware that particular instances of abuse had occurred, the commission found. “A few were courageous and brought complaints to the attention of their superiors.” However, it concluded that “the vast majority simply chose to turn a blind eye.”

The commission found that “there were a number of inappropriate contacts between the gardaí and the Archdiocese.” It cited the example of Garda Commissioner Costigan who handed over the case of Fr Edmondus to Archbishop McQuaid for investigation in 1960 This was “totally inappropriate”, it said.

“The relationship between some senior gardaí and some priests and bishops was also inappropriate,” it said. “A number of very senior members of the gardaí, including the Commissioner in 1960, clearly regarded priests as outside their remit. There are some examples of gardaí actually reporting complaints to the Archdiocese instead of investigating them.”

The report added, however, that “it is fortunate that some junior members of the force did not take the same view.” The commission was “impressed” with those gardaí involved in the prosecution of Fr Carney in the early 1980s. It “was not impressed” by the 20-year delay in reaching a decision to bring charges against a priest referred to only as Fr X.

Where the health authorities were concerned, it found they had “a very minor role in dealing with child sexual abuse by non family members.” It expressed concern that legislation covering the role of the HSE “is inadequate even for that limited role.”

http://www.dublin.ie/forums/showthrea...-Ireland-!

UK Government Blackmailed into War? Blair covers MP’s paedophile ring and the Dunblane massacre

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:09:07 +1100

By cuthulan

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely they say. BUT I say power corrupts and absolute powers ATTRACTS THE ABSOLUTELY CORRUPT!

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BUT what form does this corruption take? The obvious ones are bribery(brown envelopes) and stealing from the “kitty” (MP expenses) but is there more? In the decades gone by ,the “church” was seen as an untouchable tower of community virtue. Unfortunately as the reigns of power have slipped from the clergy and we do NOT fear for our immortal souls via the church anymore. We now KNOW the extent of paedophilia and ,even worse , the amount of effort that went in to protect and cover these paedophile rings. It goes all the way to the top , even today the pope is involved in these attempts to cover the paedophiles and silence the victims! Nice religion eh? Obviously the PR men for a very nice god!

The Pope played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests, according to a shocking documentary to be screened by the BBC tonight.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/ar...priests.do

Catholic nuns to pay out £116million compensation for child abuse

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic...abuse.html

Today the church is loosing power rapidly in the West and running out of money as it has to pay its victims compensation. The reigns of power are now in the hands of the secular politions . These people ,if they could be filmed in a comprimising position by a foreign power , would be the perfect person to blackmail! Do as we bid or we release the tapes !!!

So is there any evidence that the paedophiles have moved to secular government?

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IT SEEMS THE DUNBLANE MASSACRE IS RELATED TO A PEDOPHILE RING THROUGH MP GEORGE ROBERTSON AND HIS FREEMASON CHILD MURDERING AND MOLESTING BUDDY THOMAS HAMILTON

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT ARE DETERMINED TO COVER IT UP!!!!!

Michael James is a British freelance journalist and translator, resident in Germany for over 11 years.

References:

Robertson considers action over web allegation
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=290762003

Alleged Pedophiles at Helm of Britain’s War Machine
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/alleg...hiles.html

Call to lift veil of secrecy over Dunblane
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianpol...56,00.html

MP aide facing porn charge
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-...85,00.html

Child porn arrests ‘too slow’
http://www.sundayherald.com/30813

Don’t look now
http://www.observer.co.uk/comment/sto...34,00.html

Paedophile Rings Spells the End For His Career

Mike James

NATO boss and Blair government insider Lord Robertson has threatened to sue Scotland’s leading independent newspaper over internet allegations that he not only used his influence as a Freemason to procure a gun licence for child killer Thomas Hamilton, but was also a member of a clandestine paedophile ring reportedly set up by Hamilton for the British elite.

On 13 March 1996, Hamilton, armed with four hand-guns, opened fire on a junior school class, killing 16 children and one teacher before turning the gun on himself, shattering forever the idyllic 13th century Scottish town of Dunblane.

The controversy is certain to topple the Blair government, which has already issued a D-Notice to gag the press from revealing the names of known paedophiles within the British executive, including at least two senior ministers; and the case highlights the government’s antipathy toward the Sunday Herald and its brand of independent journalism that has, among other things, exposed the role played by the domestic security agency, MI5, in helping the IRA to carry out terrorist atrocities.

As reported by this journalist last month at Propaganda Matrix and Counter Punch, and by the Sunday Herald’s Home Affairs Editor, Neil Mackay, the British intelligence services are actively engaged in preventing any further child sex revelations that could incite further hostility to an already unpopular Prime Minister and destroy the morale of troops set to invade Iraq. An intelligence officer told Mackay that “a ‘rolling’ Cabinet committee had been set up to work out how to deal with the potentially ruinous fall-out for both Tony Blair and the government if arrests occur.”

Some commentators, mindful that one of Tony Blair’s closest confidante’s is a practising paedophile, are even suggesting that this particular scandal, and not Blair’s repeated lies and fabricated reports in regard to Iraq, may well prove the downfall of a government mired in sleaze and corruption. The Sunday Times is reported to have obtained an FBI list of Labour MPs who have used credit cards to pay for internet child pornography, and Blair has responded by imposing a massive news blackout, failing however to stop the arrest of one of his most important aides, Phillip Lyon.

The latest allegations came to light following a campaign to lift the secrecy on the Dunblane massacre. Large sections of the police report were banned from the public domain under a 100-year secrecy order. Lord Cullen, an establishment insider, also omitted and censored references to the documents in his final report. Parents and teachers were advised to concentrate their efforts on a campaign to outlaw handguns instead of focusing on how the mentally unstable Freemason, already known by the police to be a paedophile, had obtained a firearms licence for six handguns. Hamilton allegedly enjoyed good relations with both local Labour luminary George Robertson and Michael Forsyth, the then Scottish Secretary of State and MP for Stirling. Forsyth congratulated and encouraged Hamilton for running a boy’s club. Hamilton was also found to have exchanged letters with the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth.

The rumours and allegations concerning Lord Robertson’s ties to Hamilton, and the possibility that the American intelligence services may be blackmailing Tony Blair into continued support for a U.S. invasion of Iraq, have been given fire by internet investigator and intelligence expert Michael Keaney:

“An additional, and potentially explosive, aspect of US leverage over Blair is the FBI’s investigation of users of child porn websites which has already claimed a number of high profile scalps. [....] The biggest two fish that come to mind are indeed high profile: firstly there is George Robertson, who today has announced that he will step down as NATO Secretary General after four years and two months in the job. Were he to be fingered the fall out would be spectacular but short-lived — he’s been a long time out of the cabinet and is sufficiently distant from Tony to be regarded as not requiring the presentational finesse of a “rolling” Cabinet committee, whatever that might be. However, our second candidate is most certainly very closely identified with the prime minister, and retains a high profile [and] continues to operate at a very high level indeed, whether in Europe, Japan, or even the Middle East.”

“Peter Mandelson began political life as a member of the Communist Party, soon “seeing the light” and instead getting involved with the CIA/MI6-financed Socialist International youth wing and the Labour Party, through which he rose in parallel with his experience working at London Weekend Television with other A-list regulars like John Birt and Michael Maclay, now public mouthpiece of Hakluyt, the private sector spook outfit run by a bunch of “ex” MI6 types including the widow of ex-Labour leader John Smith. This sort of background and connections makes Mandelson very useful in the sort of corridors-and-alleyways diplomacy and networking that is the real substance of international relations and intelligence gathering. [....] If Mandelson is indeed the suspect, then the damage this could cause may fatally wound Blair.”

“An interesting development that may, or may not, be related to this, is the publication of an article in last Sunday’s Observer by David Aaronovitch. He and Mandelson are longtime friends, having been together in the Communist Party and at London Weekend TV. Aaronovitch was, until recently, a leading political commentator for the Independent, on whose “international advisory board” (the standard vanity collection of august persons put together for the ego of newspaper proprietors like Tony O’Reilly and Conrad Black) sits Peter Mandelson.”

“Since switching to the Guardian Media Group at the beginning of this year or thereabouts, Aaronovitch authored an article on child abuse in which he pleads for common sense to prevail, rather than the lynch mob: ‘Strangely I trust the police to act sensibly (because, like the analysts, they’ve seen it all): it’s the rest of us I worry about.’” “That much depends upon the behaviour of the US Justice Department, which ultimately has responsibility for the investigation, must be a worry for Blair. One need only imagine how this must colour the views of John Ashcroft regarding the moral fibre of British cabinet ministers and the laxity of the prime minister who chose them in the first place. How easy would it be for the suspect to be named in a story that miraculously surfaced outside of the UK (thereby circumventing the D Notice and leading potentially to a re-run of the Spycatcher fiasco of 1987)?

“Whoever is on the suspects’ list, we can see that already this ‘rolling’ cabinet committee is busy leaking stories that serve at least to delay the shock of the inevitable, eventual revelation, buying valuable time if nothing else. Thus you can depend on the Guardian to save the day for Tony, and here’s some helpful tip-offs courtesy of MI6 that help to distract from what’s really going on, whilst bolstering the reputation for integrity and financial propriety that has marked Blair’s dealings with businesspeople like Bernie Ecclestone, Richard Desmond, Lakshmi Mittal, etc.”

“I have come to the considered conclusion,” says a correspondent of Keaney, William Palfreman, “that the events surrounding the Dunblane massacre, and the subsequent submissions to the Cullen enquiry that have been put under to 100 years of secrecy, far out weigh in political significance issues such as our opposition to the EU [and] what it entails. It is inconceivable that T Blair, Jack Straw [and] Gordon Brown can survive in office as this matter becomes known. It totally undermines the Labour government,and could easily be a case of the Queen feeling she has to use reserve powers to call an emergency general election, such would be the loss of confidence.”

“This scandal is far more important that anything that has happened here in living memory, in fact I can think of no parallel for it. It certainly pisses all over anything that happened to Kennedy or was done by Nixon. I am surprised, given the gravity of this matter, that [an] attempt has yet to be made on his life, for surely we are dealing with desperate people here. It also explains a few strange things, such as just why T Blair & co. were so keen to ban all handguns, and why such obviously talentless nobodies like George Robertson have risen from being backbench nobodies a couple of years ago to Defence Secretary, and now Secretary-General of Nato.”

“[....] Now where in this is there a national security risk so great, that documents part of the public enquiry are now state secrets to be held for 100 years? Funny kind of public enquiry. Why, when Thomas Hamilton’s application for a gun licence was turned down, due to him being regarded as a man of unsound character [and] him being the object of several paedophilia investigations, did his MP, our friend George Robertson (now Lord Robertson, Secretary-General of NATO), write him a glowing character reference, and personally see to it that his application was successful, when he knew the grounds for the original refusal were because he was suspected of procuring boys for sexual services?”

“Or take a certain boat seized on Loch Ness [Loch Lomond] by the Strathclyde Police. It is a very rare thing for assets to be seized in the UK, as [there] are no asset-forfeiture laws. When it does happen,there is normally a trial at least, with things only being seized if they are proven to be bought with money proven to be consequence of a proven crime. Even then, they are sold by public auction. How come, then, was this very valuable boat sold for the tiny sum of £5000, without an auction, to none other than our friend Thomas Hamilton, a man of no financial means whatsoever, nor a sailor, nor lived anywhere near any open water. Why did not the boats owners complain about having their property stolen from them in this manner? I can only conclude because it was being used for some very serious criminal activity, and those on board were merely glad to escape prosecution. Also, it seems rather odd in such circumstances that not only were the owners happy to avoid prosecution enough to lose a valuable boat,but that the Strathclyde Police were not willing to prosecute. And yet, after these improbable events,it wound up in none other than our friend Hamilton’s hands. Could he have been a blackmailer as well as a paedophile?”

“But the main thing is what might explain sections of the public enquiry are now under the hundred year rule. There are only three levels of secrecy in the UK for state secrets, the 30 year rule, the 80 year rule and the 100 year rule. Normal secrets, like Cabinet discussions, government papers,espionage, all that, are under the 30 year rule. Only a very small number of things ever reached the 80 year rule, particularly events in the Sudan with Kitchener in 1902, where it seems that an act of genocide was committed, and some things that happened 1914-18, as well as things like potential peace negotiations in 1941, and just about everything to do with the IRA (after all, people are still alive after 30 years) come under the 80 year rule. Of them, the darkest of state secrets, when the events of ’02 were getting a bit close to their limit for comfort, a further class of secrets was created to last a hundred years, and tiny number of things were put in it – e.g. Kitchener in ‘02, some World War I things.”

But none of these things can be said to apply to Dunblane. That was a case of a common criminal [and]sexual pervert committing some fairly ordinary murders, of a kind that happen from time to time. Even if a backbench Labour MP was implicated, or may have been involved in a large paedophile ring in Scotland, that is not a matter of vital national importance. You have a prosecution, there is a bit of a scandal, everyone is disgusted and one MP goes to prison. Big deal: such things happen. You certainly would not make such information a state secret just to save one unnamed backbench nobody’s miserable neck. Governments simply don’t go to such extreme lengths to save nobodies – power broking just doesn’t work like that. There must be issues of profound national importance working here, and I put it to you that anything that involves certain events in Scotland is more likely to be someone of cabinet level than anything else.

If the physiologically flawed [although Thomas Hamilton was these were the words of Tony Blair when speaking of Gordon Brown] Thomas Hamilton was the centre of a paedophile ring in Scotland that procured boys to people of the amongst the highest rank, and Tony Blair [and] Jack Straw covered this up by the Official Secrets Act (They would do the covering, as both the Prime Minister’s [and] Home Secretary’s permission is needed to put some something under the 100 year rule.) it is hard to see how they or their close colleges could possibly remain in office, even if they were never inclined to such flawed behaviour themselves. The government would fall.”

That prospect seems to be energising a government now considered to be fighting for its political life, even to the extent of killing the review process by which some of the banned sections of the Cullen Report would be made public, arguing that freedom of information would somehow harm other abused children in Dunblane.

In a recent interview with the Guardian newspaper, Michael Matheson, the Scottish National Party’s shadow deputy justice minister, said: “There are more documents covered by the 100-year rule than this police report. Some of them have nothing whatsoever to do with children. We need to look at why such a lengthy ban has been imposed on them. I have been contacted by a number of families affected by the tragedy who are anxious to ensure this information becomes public. And so far we have no guarantee that it will. We only have a review.”

“It is important we make available, if it is at all possible, any information that is available about people in the public eye,” said the Scottish first minister, Jack McConnell. When Tony Blair took office following a landslide victory in 1997, few commentators would have suggested that this man would be willing to drag his country into a war of unjustified aggression against a people that have done no harm to the British public. Nor would anyone have surmised that a Labour government would hitch its political fortunes to a shabby cabal of fanatical neoconservative Zionists working to make real their much-touted biblical Armageddon. And no one could have predicted that Blair’s nominally “Christian” administration would transform itself into a licentious club of flamboyant homosexual cruisers and out-of-control paedophiles.

But it is now becoming shockingly clear that the slavish adherence of Tony Blair and Jack Straw to the Bush line on Iraq may have less to do with principled arguments, and much more to do with the fear of CIA and FBI revelations that would make them two of the most hated politicians in modern British political history.

There is only one way out for Tony Blair – resign.

(The British Labour government, 1997-2003. Rest In Peace.)

http://www.propagandamatrix.com/blair...ction.html

This also may explain Tony’s sudden converstion to Catholisism, when you leave one bunch of paedophiles its better to hang out with other paedophiles. ……Also these guys can sell you indulgencies and forgive your sins,..something that might be appealling with a conscience as guilty and heavy as Tony Blairs!!!!

FYI Tony ,you are wasting you time ,christianity is invented bollocks. Monotheism is original fascism

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09...istianity/

WAS TONY BLAIR’S GOVERNMENT BEING BLACKMAILED BY THE USA?…… REMEMBER!!!

The Sunday Times is reported to have obtained an FBI list of Labour MPs who have used credit cards to pay for internet child pornography, and Blair has responded by imposing a massive news blackout, failing however to stop the arrest of one of his most important aides, Phillip Lyon.

THE OPTIONS ……WAR……… OR……. WE RELEASE THE FINDINGS OF OPERATION AVALANCHE?

The Who’s Pete Townshend has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography. British police have not yet charged the rock star with a crime, but they are holding him at a London police station, according to wire service reports.

Police nabbed Townshend for suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, suspicion of making indecent images of children and suspicion of incitement to distribute indecent images of children

Townshend was busted as part of Operation Ore, which is England’s reaction to Operation Avalanche, a U.S. Justice Department crackdown on more than 250,000 suspected pedophiles across the globe, who were traced using credit cards to pay for Internet child pornography. In recent weeks, Scotland Yard has arrested over than 1,300 suspects in the investigation, including more than 50 police officers, judges, teachers, doctors, care workers and soldiers, the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper reported.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459...tory.jhtml

WAS THE PETE TOWNSEND AND PHILIP LYON ARRESTS A WARNING TO THE UK GOVERNMENT?

REMEMBER A “D-NOTICE” ONLY WORKS WITHIN THE UK AND OPERATION AVALANCHE WAS A WORLD WIDE US OPERATION, WHICH INCLUDED A LIST OF LABOUR MP’S AND CABINET MEMBERS!!!!!

BUT THE USA IS NO BETTER,IN FACT THEY TOO PIMP OUT KIDS FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES!!!!

POLITICAL CHILD PROSTITUTION!!!

Snooping on Allies Embarrasses U.S.

The Clinton camp ducks alleged bugging of Seattle summit, Insight discovers State Department ‘pimp’ account and foreign embassies express shock about FBI-led espionage caper. Blackmail, lies and deceit may be the only fitting description of the 1993 Seattle Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, summit where dignitaries from 17 countries are reported to have been placed under electronic surveillance by American agents. As Insight first reported last month, the Clinton administration is said by intelligence and security specialists — who admitted being involved — to have bugged the conclave and then provided classified secrets to the Democratic National Committee, or DNC (See “Sex, Spies and Videotape at Clinton’s APEC Summit,” Sept.29). This in turn allegedly was used as bait to barter with potential big-buck donors for large contributions to the Democratic coffers, sources in and out of government claim. . . . . . . . . Insight also detailed in earlier reports a series of alleged criminal activities, including the procuring of boys to engage in sexual activities with diplomats; FBI agents accepting thousands of dollars of kickbacks; and, the most serious offense, the White House providing top-secret trade information to two West Coast law firms working off the books for the DNC.
. . . . The covert mission was so large that the government purchased about $250,000 in electronic surveillance equipment, including Konica cameras, from at least three private suppliers, according to classified records reviewed by Insight. American spies then collected raw economic data on Asian businesses through agents of the FBI, the Customs Service, Naval Intelligence, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the NSC, and the National Security Agency, or NSA, sources say.
. . . . The FBI is believed to have bugged more than 300 locations, with electronic audio and video surveillance devices used to monitor 10,000 to 15,000 conversations — much of it real-time data that was bounced from satellites to the NSA. . . . . Larry Klayman, executive director of Judicial Watch, a private legal watchdog group suing the Commerce Department for trade records, suggests the bugging may be related to a possible surveillance operation on the late commerce secretary Ron Brown,suspected of taking bribes involving Vietnam contracts. But that alone doesn’t explain how the DNC could have ended up with top-secret information.
. . . . Ironically, Clinton boasted that this summit was based on a new spirit of trust in U.S. relations with Canada, Australia, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Mexico and Papua New Guinea. Little wonder that exposure by Insight of this covert mission has been met with outrage around the world.
. . . . Many embassies of the targeted nations asked if Insight knew who was compromised by the child-sex ring. No senior political leader was involved –it was “secondary” people, such as assistants to those responsible for cutting trade deals, intelligence sources say. It still is unclear who provided the boys to the dignitaries, but Insight has learned that the alleged sexual activities occurred in rooms at the West Coast Vance Hotel in Seattle.
. . . . When Pete Shimondale, the general manager of the hotel, was asked by Insight about the sexual allegations, he responded, “Oh God. I didn’t start here until 1994.” He said authorities have not been out to question him or review records of hotel guests but declined to comment further.
. . . . The boys are believed to have been 15 to 17 years old. As shocking as this may be, some say it’s routine. A former Bush economic adviser observes, “The sex? That’s done all the time. If a foreign diplomat wants a companion, the State Department provides it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a man or woman. They have a special fund set up for that.” Another former NSC official who requested anonymity says other countries also do it. “I was offered every sexual favor you can imagine. I turned it down all the time. After a while they left me alone and stopped offering me.”

. . . . The operation was approved by the “Secret Court,” which clears such national-security operations, according to intelligence specialists. This court legally may authorize wiretapping, and all its writs and rulings are permanently sealed.

. . . . In fact, monitoring of G-7 economic summits under prior administrations was approved through the Secret Court, says a former National Security Council official under Reagan,

BUT WHO WATCHS THE WATCHMEN?

IT SEEMS THE ISRAELIS…….

24 December 2001

According to Fox News, “virtually all records and billing in the U.S. are done for the telephone companies by Amdocs Ltd., an Israeli-based private telecommunication company, contracting with the 25 biggest phone companies in America, and more worldwide,” said Fox chief political correspondent Carl Cameron in a four-part series—the video and transcript content of which were removed from Fox’s website

Fox News, beginning mid-December, reported a four-part series on alleged Israeli spying on the US telecommunication systems through firms which provide telephone billing and assist FBI wiretaps. Recently the series was withdrawn by Fox News without explanation. The series has been recovered from private archives for publication here.

“It is virtually impossible [for any U.S. citizen] to make a call on normal phones without generating an (Israel-based) Amdocs record of it,” said Fox’s Carl Cameron in part I of his special investigation of Israeli spying in America before and after the September 11 attacks,

The U.S. law enforcement wiretaps, authorized by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), appear to have been breached by organized crime units working inside Israel and the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad.
The spy ring enabled criminals to use reverse wiretaps against U.S. intelligence and law enforcement operations. The illegal monitoring may have resulted in the deaths of several informants and reportedly spoiled planned anti-drug raids on crime syndicates

BUT NO LEGAL ACTION WILL BE TAKEN AGAINST THEM………………ITS THE LAW

The Senate voted today to approve the House version of the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) bill, “President Bush’s Surveillance Program,” and retroactive telephone company immunity from civil and/or criminal lawsuits for past compliance with presidential directives to eavesdrop on electronic communications of American citizens without a warrant.

FOR MORE INFO

An article in Insight magzaine from May 2000 seems to be the first major coverage of Israeli spying on the US described in the Fox News reports below:

http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/in...25356.html

The authors researched it for a year. This Insight article was discussed in the June 2000 issue of the Washington Report:

http://www.washington-report.org/back...06006.html

and the next month Washington Report discusses the press’s coverage of the Insight article:

http://www.washington-report.org/back...07043.html

COULD THIS BE THE EXPANATION OF WHY SO MANY SECULAR NON-JEWISH BRITISH AND AMERICAN CITIZENS SUDDENLY BECOME OPENLY PRO-ISRAELI WHEN REACHING THE HALLS OF POWER?

BLACKMAIL?

THE UK ISRAEL LOBBY

Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby [1/2]

Dispatches investigates one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain, which is working in support of the interests of the State of Israel.

Despite wielding great influence among the highest realms of British politics and media, little is known about the individuals and groups which collectively are known as the pro-Israel lobby.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7fd_1258474918

UK Government does what its Israelli masters tell it again

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/12...-it-again/

THIS WOULD WORK JUST AS WELL FOR ANY LOBBY GROUP OR POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS MEGALOMANIAC FANATICAL GROUP!

FOR THOSE THAT AGREE WITH THE CONCEPT OF GOVERNMENT

How long do you put up with this ?

Our government is pre-emptively starting wars ,it is lying to us regularly for its benefit not ours , it is sponcering terrorism against its own people and others ,it makes us weak and less safe, it preys on our population, it is stealing from the people its supposed to be serving, bank bail outs , MP expenses etc .

Remember these are supposed to be PUBLIC SERVANTS ,NOT PUBLIC MASTERS , WE are the taxpayers so WE ARE THIER PAY MASTERS!!!!!!

BUT THEY DO NOT LISTEN TO US ,THEY THINK THEY RULES US.

THEY LISTEN TO LOBBY GROUPS ,BROWN ENVELOPES AND BLACKMAIL………………

GOVERNMENT ,ITS TIME TO LISTEN TO YOUR MASTERS!!!!!

IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE ABOUT PAY ,………PLEASE GO ON STRIKE AND PROVE YOU DESERVE THE MONEY!!!!

Personally I cannot notice the difference when you are on holiday or not. I think the country would actually RUN BETTER WITHOUT A GOVERNMENT!!!!

ARGENTINA DID IN 2001

and pretty much still does today, many factories and communities in Argentina today still run on ANARCHIST PRINCIPLES!!!!

After the non-violent collapse of the Argentinean government in 2001/2002, the social and economic organization of Argentina has undergone major changes, though how important these changes are remains to be seen. Worker occupations of factories and popular assemblies have both been seen functioning in Argentina, and both are the kind of action endorsed by anarchists: the first is a case of direct action and the latter a case of direct democracy..Similar developments have taken place in Brazil and Uruguay.[6] In 2004, Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein (author of No Logo) released the documentary The Take, which is about these events

http://eng.anarchopedia.org/history_o...present.29

BUT of coarse do NOT expect the MainStream Media to report ANY of this!!

IMHO THE SOLUTION IS LIBERTARIAN SOCIALISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/11...l-politic/

HAPPY 2010 ONE YEAR CLOSER TO WORLD PEACE!

Tags: conspiracy, War, Iraq, Blair, NATO, FBI, dunblane, D notice, paedophile, blackmail, george Robertson . Mandelson

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/01...-massacre/

Republic's 'collusion' in sexual abuse

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:13:32 +1100

Former police ombudsman Nuala O'Loan entered the House of Lords as Baroness O'Loan in September 2009. She is a devout Roman Catholic and in an article for The Irish Catholic she has spoken very plainly about the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests in the Irish Republic and about the 'collusion' of the state and state agencies.

Story Continues below

Referring to the recent report on sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic diocese of Dublin, she said that she was shocked to learn how state agencies protected abusers from being discovered and punished. 'The failings articulated in the Murphy report are not just the failings of the Church. They are also the failings of the state and they are equally grave.'

In her article she criticised the apostolic nuncio in Dublin, Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza, for failing to cooperate with the investigation. [The apostolic nuncio is the diplomatic representative of the Vatican in Ireland.] Baroness O'Loan said this was 'totally unacceptable' given that the Murphy inquiry was an official investigation into highly serious allegations.

'How could anyone sacrifice little children in this way in order to protect an institution, which by these very actions became collusive in the crimes of the abusers?'

Condemnation is now being directed at:

1. the priests who carried out the sexual abuse of children

2. the Roman Catholic church officials who covered it up and moved abusive priests from parish to parish to prevent them being discovered and tried before the courts - in this way they colluded in the crimes.

3. the state agencies who protected abusers from being discovered and punished and also colluded in the crimes.

http://theministerspen.blogspot.com/2...abuse.html

Martin, Papal Nuncio to discuss Murphy report

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 02:39:58 +1100

The Minister for Foreign Affairs will meet the Papal Nuncio to Ireland next week to discuss the Commission of Investigation into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that Micheál Martin asked Archbishop Giuseppe Leanza for a meeting to discuss issues relating to the report which investigated clerical child sexual abuse in the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

The meeting will take place early next week.

The report into the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin details a litany of abuse perpetrated by priests against more than 300 victims.

It said it had no doubt that clerical child abuse was covered up by the Archdiocese and other Church authorities.

The report rubbished the view put forward by the Church that the abuse was hidden from view and somehow took Church authorities by surprise.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/1204/abuse.html

Gormley seeks child rights referendum

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:40:55 +1000

STEPHEN COLLINS, Political Editor

GREEN PARTY leader and Minister for the Environment John Gormley has called for all-party agreement on a referendum on the rights of children as the best monument to the victims of residential abuse.

He was speaking during the second day of the Dáil debate on an all-party motion accepting the recommendations of the Ryan commission into child abuse and acknowledging the pain and suffering endured by the former residents of institutions.
It was time for action on the proposed constitutional amendment on rights of children, he said. “We have been debating this issue for more than four years in this House but the time for debate has concluded. I urge all parties in the House to find consensus through the work of the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children, which is due to report in September.”

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern made a commitment more than three years ago to hold a referendum to strengthen the rights of children, but agreement on the complex legal issues involved has not yet been reached by the committee established to examine the issue.

The Children’s Rights Alliance welcomed Mr Gormley’s call for a referendum, saying that in its briefings to all political parties this week it had proposed such a constitutional amendment as “a living memorial”.

“We thank Minister Gormley for his considered response and timely intervention, and call on the other political parties to now follow suit and issue a similar statement. We also urge the members of the Joint Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children to reach political consensus on a proposed wording for a constitutional amendment to strengthen children’s rights that can be put before the Irish people as soon as is practicable,” said the statement.

During yesterday’s debate, Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe rejected a scathing attack on Department of Education officials by Labour Party education spokesman Ruairí Quinn.

“I don’t accept that Deputy Quinn has the right to use the privilege of this House to impugn the personal integrity and motivations of civil servants working in my or any other department. His language and personal allegations about these civil servants would be risible if it were not for the serious context in which they were made,” said Mr O’Keeffe.

He said he wanted to put on the Dáil record that in his year as Minister for Education he had always found his officials to be motivated by a strong desire to make the best choice in the public interest.

“Far from the laziness and destructiveness Deputy Quinn alleges, I’ve found a huge commitment to their work and willingness to go the extra mile,” he said.

In the Dáil on Thursday, Mr Quinn complained he had been unable to get detailed information from the Department of Education about the number of primary schools owned by the Catholic Church or religious orders.

“Either officials in the department are members of secret societies such as the Knights of St Columbanus and Opus Dei and have taken it upon themselves to protect the interests of these clerical orders at this point in time in this year of 2009 or, alternatively, the Minister is politically incompetent and incapable of managing the Department of Education and Science,” Mr Quinn said.

Mr O’Keeffe said Mr Quinn had every right to express in the Dáil his view about his performance as a Minister or the performance of his department.

“Deputy Quinn is right to point to areas where improvement is needed. I, and indeed my Department, would agree with him on some of this.

‘‘I accept that it’s a problem that the information sought by the deputy isn’t readily available because of information technology and database inadequacies,” he said, adding he has asked his department to compile ownership information for schools in an accessible format for presentation.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

www.irishtimes.com

Dáil to hold two-day debate over child abuse report

Fri, 22 May 2009 19:09:20 +1000

MARIE O'HALLORAN

THE DÁIL will hold a special two-day debate to discuss the implications of the “harrowing report” of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which detailed physical and sexual violence against more than 1,000 children in 216 institutions.
Tánaiste Mary Coughlan told the House that a special Cabinet meeting will be held next week to discuss the report which runs to almost 3,000 pages and the Dáil debate is expected to take place in the week after the local and European elections.

She agreed to the debate following Opposition calls for a detailed discussion and criticism of current child protection policies which were still “failing children”.

Fine Gael deputy leader Richard Bruton , who led calls for a detailed consideration of the report, said the “failures of the State have been unforgivable” and “long since apologies were made publicly, the Government is still presiding over a system full of failures”, with the 1999 child protection guidelines still not implemented.

He warned that “any words of apology from us on behalf of the State will ring hollow in the ears of people who were at the mercy of the courts and were mistreated by them, who were dependent on the Department of Education to provide supervision and protection for them and were let down and who, when they complained of abuse were not listened to, which is an appalling litany.” The State “simply turned its eye the other way. It was too appalling to consider that the complaints made were true and needed to be acted upon. Instead, it hid behind the relationships established with institutions, which is unforgivable.”

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said they needed a mechanism to re-open the indemnity deal done with the religious orders who paid about €127 million towards redress payments to victims of abuse, but the bill for the taxpayer was 10 times that amount.

He referred to the report’s conclusion about the “deferential and submissive attitude of the Department of Education towards the congregations” and said that the “same deferential and submissive attitude was alive” when then minister for education Dr Michael Woods concluded the agreement in 2002 with the religious orders. He also said that the €2 million cut in payments to the Residential Institutions Redress Board should be reinstated.

Mr Gilmore said many children were “abducted from their families” and put into institutions to provide “what can only be described as a kind of headage payment of institutions who knew that those children were being abused and that the only reason they were in those institutions was that they were from poor families”.

The cover up and collusion by the then department of education was “shameful” and destroyed lives.

Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghin Ó Caoláin said the debate should include recommendations from other reports including the Monageer inquiry “because child abuse is not confined to decades past and in institutions overseen by religious orders”. He said the Mental Health Commission’s report should also be included.

Ms Coughlan repeated the apology made by former taoiseach Bertie Ahern 10 years ago on behalf of the State to victims and said the commission’s report “poses great issues for the State on how the State discharged its responsibilities. It poses issues for the religious orders and it poses issues for our wider society.” Questioned about current legislative proposals such as on statutory rape and “soft information” she said legislation was being drafted but stressed that child care legislation was “enormously complex”.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times

www.irishtimes.com

Murphy O’Connor must not be given a peerage

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:24:44 +1100

The Times reports today that the Government is considering offering a peerage to Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, who is soon to retire as leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. This will be the first time a Catholic cleric has sat in Parliament since the reformation.

The Times says that “The prospect of offering Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor a life peerage is understood to have been discussed during Gordon Brown’s meeting with the Pope at the Holy See last week.”
Murphy O’Connor will bring the Vatican’s reactionary, homophobic, misogynistic and manipulative agenda right into the heart of our parliament.

But worse than that, Murphy O’Connor appears to be being rewarded when he should be on the grill being asked to explain his activities in relation to the foul child abusing priest ‘Father’ Michael Hill.

In the 1980s Murphy O’Connor was the bishop of Arundel and Brighton. Although he was aware that one of his priests — Michael Hill — was a dangerous paedophile he did nothing to prevent his access to children. When the abuse came to light, Murphy O’Connor helped Hill to move from one parish to another, where his activities continued. Murphy O’Connor ignored three warnings that Hill was likely to offend. Finally, Hill was moved to a place where he could do most harm, with the least chance of discovery - as a chaplain at Gatwick airport. It was there that he abused even more defenceless children. The police eventually brought his reign of terror to an end, but not before this monster had ruined the lives of countless children and young people, some of them suffering from disabilities.

Not only was there abuse on a massive scale, of which the Cardinal was aware, money was paid by the Roman Catholic Church to victims in his diocese to hush the matter up. I am not aware of any apology or explanation for this by the Cardinal.

All this could have been prevented if the Cardinal had not tried to sweep it under the carpet.

There were strong suspicions that other priests in the Arundel and Brighton area had also been involved in child abuse while under the wing of Murphy O’Connor, but for some reason the investigation into the Cardinal’s culpability came to an abrupt halt. The Times reports are very disturbing.

The BBC, which was investigating the matter inexplicably dropped the story and the police enquiry fizzled out when the Catholic Church accused the media of “persecuting” Murphy O’Connor.

The victims of the crimes committed under the leadership of this man, who is now about to be given privileged access to our lawmaking body, certainly don’t think he was persecuted. They think that the real crime is that he got off scot-free.

Murphy O’Connor’s defence is that “the decisions he made at that time were not irresponsible and that there was a genuine ignorance among bishops, priests, and society at large about the compulsive nature of child abuse”. For a bishop of an organisation purporting to be a moral authority to claim to be ignorant of something everyone else knew can only be stupidity and / or dishonesty of a stunning degree. Neither commend him for a seat in the Lords.

The President has written to the Prime Minister in terms similar to the above. Please write to your MP and complain about this proposal and suggest they ask a Parliamentary Question. Murphy O’Connor must not be rewarded for these unpardonable actions with a seat in the House of Lords.

www.secularism.org.uk

Results of child protection inquiry in Cloyne may be published

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:14:35 +1100

PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent

THE NATIONAL Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC) has indicated that it may publish the results of an inquiry it conducted into child protection practices in the diocese of Cloyne earlier this year.
In a terse one-line statement last night NBSCCC chief executive Ian Elliott said “given that the Minister has made it clear that this report is clearly ours, we are considering all options available to us”.

In a statement yesterday Mr Andrews said that “confusion appears to surround the commissioning and status of two individual reports into child sexual abuse in the diocese of Cloyne.”

He continued that “the HSE, the statutory body charged with carrying out child protection investigations, carried out an investigation into clerical sex abuse in the diocese of Cloyne, a report of which was received by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs on December 4th, 2008”.

As part of that investigation, he said “the HSE considered a separate internal church report, written by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church (NBSCCC). The origin of this (NBSCCC) report was that on receipt of a complaint of clerical sexual abuse in the diocese of Cloyne, the department informed the HSE and, also out of courtesy, informed the NBSCCC of this complaint, which then carried out its own internal investigation resulting in the NBSCCC report.”

He said “this internal report was not commissioned, paid for or evaluated by the Office of the Minister for Children. When it was discovered by the Office of the Minister for Children that the internal church report was not sent to the HSE, nor was it the church’s (ie the NBSCCC’s – which, though appointed by the Catholic Church, is independent of it – ) intention to do so, the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs forwarded the report to the HSE”.

The investigation carried out by the HSE, of which the NBSCCC report formed part, was “currently under legal review and a decision as to whether to publish the results of the investigation will be made on receipt of legal advice,” he said.

Four priests from Cloyne diocese had been withdrawn from active ministry following complaints of sex abuse. One was withdrawn almost 10 years ago, others more recently.

www.irishtimes.com