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Run for and by people who have experienced sexual abuse.
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Caroline O’Doherty In The Examiner
Angry Christian Brothers have claimed they will not get a fair hearing at the Child Abuse Commission after the High Court threw out the order’s challenge to the probe.
The Brothers said the commission's findings would be "unsafe" following the decision that deceased, infirm or untraceable members will not escape naming and shaming.
The order said it had not decided whether to appeal the judgment to the Supreme Court an option that would create further delays for the troubled inquiry.
It said the inability to offer proper defences and the "danger of prejudice" from the lapse of time in older cases would "undoubtedly" render findings unsafe."The Christian Brothers regard this as a real threat to human and civil rights in a modern civilised democracy," it said.
The Christian Brothers took the case in an attempt to prevent the commission making public findings against deceased, former, incapacitated or untraced members and in cases where the passage of time was considered too great.
The action halted the work of the commission's investigative committee which last month ran into further complications with the resignation of its chairwoman, Ms Justice Mary Laffoy.
Yesterday's ruling in theory clears the way for the probe to resume once chairman designate Seán Ryan takes over, but it also means the committee must clarify how it tests evidence, what weight it attaches to multiple allegations and what provisions it will make for representatives of deceased or incapacitated members to conduct cross-examinations on their behalf.
John Kelly of SOCA (Survivors of Child Abuse) criticised the ruling, saying it would raise the threshold of proof for victims. "We were told the commission would be non-adversarial than the courts but now the burden on the victims will be the same as the criminal or civil courts," he said.
