Laissez- Faire

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Wednesday May 31, 2006 12:28

by Chris Murray - The Unmanageables

One Administration's approach to the Rights of the Child.

Section 1(1) of the 1935 Criminal Law (Amendment Act), was declared unconstitutional last week in relation to a case wherein a man claimed that at the time of the 'unlawful carnal knowledge' of a minor, of which he was convicted, he believed that she was of age. Yesterday's judgement by Ms justice Mary Laffoy in another case involving a then, 38 year old man and twelve year old girl had no choice but to take this section of the act into account, but to reject the whole section of the act in toto.
Coverage of the Judgement is splashed all over the corporate media this morning. The issue of lack of protections for the child herein, scrape the surface of the failure of this administration through consistent legislative failures which encompass not alone the Dept of Justice, but also the Dept of Education. The administration as a whole with regard to Church /State indemnity, the collapse of the Laffoy Commission and this Latest fiasco which leaves our most vulnerable citizens at risk.

The prompting for this piece came as a result of reading the judgement in yesterday's ruling on the Statutory Rape legislation.

Ms Justice Laffoy for many years headed up the Commission to enquire into child Abuse. The commission was investigating
child-abuse in the Church/ State institutions. It was founded under the aegis Of the Dept of Education in 1999. (First mistake, the Dept of Education was being investigated as part of the work of the Commission).

The work of the Commission was halted in 2003 due to the abrupt resignation of Ms Justice Laffoy, citing in her resignation that
* Since its establishment , the commission was never properly
enabled by Government to fulfill satisfactorily the functions conferred on it by the Oireachtas.
*Extra resources sought by the Commission in June 2002 had still not been provided.
*There were serious reports of major tensions between the commission and the Dept of Education over plans to review the way the commission is operating
* there were delays on the part of the Dept of Education in providing documentation relating to industrial schools.
* Serious difficulties were reported in securing the co-operation of some religious orders.

http://irishhealth.com/index.html
wwww.rte.ie/news/2003/0909/laffoy.html

Ms Justice Laffoy is bound by the legislation currently on the Statutes and had no option but to act within the parameters of the Law. The State , meanwhile are attempting to rush through emergency legislation next week at Dail Eireann in order to reduce the effect of this legislation on themselves and not on the Victim.

Ms Justice Laffoy has experienced both the vagaries of state interference in the judicial process in terms of the serious allegations which led to her resignation in September 2003, as well as current difficulties prompted by the 1935 act . The
inability of the Dept of Justice to deal with the issue of statutory
rape in a mature manner which would alleviate the child victim from providing the burden of proof in such cases.

Twelve men are convicted of and serving prison terms for the statutory rape of minors, six of them face along with these charges other serious charges. The law, as it stands, on the basis of this judgement allows for all these convictions to be overturned.

The protection of the Child, therefore in relation to sexual violence is not high on the agenda of this administration, who have generously decided to reconvene the Dail ,if the emergency legislation is drafted during the summer-break.

Unresolved issues re abuse and violence, which have been subject to re-shuffle and media forgetfulness include:
* The Church/State indemnity Scheme.
Presided over by ex-minister for education Dr Michael Woods.

* The report of the commission of enquiry into child-abuse re-established in 2003, after Ms Justice Laffoy's resignation.

*The Dept of Education and it's funding for learning -disabled children.

*The Dept of Justice and the enquiry into the Rossiter death in Garda custody.

* The Dept of Justice and the children who have disappeared as a result of deportation of their parents.

Links for some of the above:
www.childabusecommission.ie/
www.paddydoyle.com/jihad.html
www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3
archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2003 (story 481203672 asp)
www.feargalquinn.ie/lead/1310.html

The bottom three relate to the issue of the scheme whereby the Church was allowed a sweetheart deal in relation to compensating victims of physical and sexual abuse in industrial schools and State -run orphanages.

The article was prompted by the failure of this administration to protect its citizens. There has been a catalogue of failure by both the Depts of Education and of Justice to address issues of
violence against children. There has been a failure to protect victims of crime and a lack of leadership and initiative in relation to acknowledging and compensating these victims.