Government’s Scoping Inquiry Into Numbers Sexually Abused In Religious Institutions Described As ‘Misnomer’ By Former Victim
The Government’s Scoping Inquiry in to the numbers who were sexually abused in religious institutions has been described as a misnomer by a former victim.
The Minister for Education Norma Foley has appointed Senior Counsel, Mary O’Toole to lead the investigation.
Mark Vincent Healy, who runs the website, onevoice.ie, was sexually abused at St. Mary’s College in Rathmines during the 1970s and has since received an out-of court settlement.
He says serious questions remain about how the data gathered will be processed and managed:
“I object to this scoping inquiry, basically because it’s a misnomer. It should be just a scoping exercise. They want to know the numbers, but inclusive within that process are requests for maybe information or details, a survey. Where’s this data? Who protects you from this data etc.? There’s a data processing issue at stake with the gathering of such data just for a scoping inquiry”.
