Time to face up to facts of sexual abuse of children

We know child sexual abuse remains a huge problem in Irish society; it is time we acted courageously to stop it, writes Maeve Lewis

At the turn of the century, Irish people were shaken by revelations of clerical sexual abuse. It has been very difficult for us to accept that Roman Catholic priests and religious were responsible for harming thousands of children across the country. It has been even more difficult to accept that the church authorities had in many cases known of the abuse, and had acted to protect the institutional church rather than vulnerable children.

The full extent of the scandal is still to emerge as we await the reports of the Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse and the Dublin Archdiocesan Inquiry. We also await a consistent, transparent child protection structure to be put in place across the Catholic dioceses and congregations.

Five per cent of all Irish children who are sexually abused are harmed by clerics. However, 75 per cent of children who are sexually abused are violated by members of their own family, or by trusted adults known to them in their daily lives. Facing this is our real challenge now.

Although it does not sit easily with our Irish self-image, sexual abuse of children is highly prevalent in this country.

The Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland (SAVI) Report (2002) showed that 23 per cent of Irish men and 30 per cent of Irish women had unwanted sexual experiences in childhood. Naturally, we want to recoil from these harsh statistics, but what they actually mean is that each one of us must know somebody in our intimate circle who was sexually abused as a child.

The costs of sexual abuse are very high. Typically, people suffer years of distress before they seek help. Survivors of sexual abuse have a high incidence of depression and anxiety. Many develop an addiction in an attempt to cope with overwhelming anguish. Had they received help as children, the devastating impact of sexual abuse on their lives could have been avoided.

And the children of today? The truth is that we do not know. The effects of sexual abuse are such that children are shamed and silenced, and most victims do not disclose their experiences until they reach adulthood.

Yet adult survivors routinely tell of the difficulties in attempting to report historic abuse to overstretched HSE staff. If sexual abuse is disclosed within the family, little is available to support families to deal with the enormous fallout. Where psychotherapy is available to adult survivors, the outcomes are very good, and lives can be transformed. But waiting lists for affordable services are lengthy.

It is estimated that only three in one thousand sexual crimes result in a prosecution, with an even smaller number of convictions.

Full story at-http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0917/1221599424035.html

© 2008 The Irish Times

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