Haunted By Our History: Ireland and Child Sexual Abuse

Irish History Podcast

Fin Dwyer

Ireland, Irish History, Norman Invasion, Great Hunger, Vikings, Interviews, History, War Of Independence, Great Famine

4.7 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2016

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This podcast was funded by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund.

We don’t remember 1980s fondly in Ireland. Emigration and recession were features of life. The political atmosphere was defined by divisive and bitter debates around abortion in 1983 and divorce in 1986.

There was also a third deeply discomforting debate that rocked Irish society. Almost completely forgotten, this debate around child sexual abuse lifted the lid on a topic previously shrouded by shame, taboo and a code of silence. Contrary to what we might expect this did not involve priests, institutions or the Catholic Church. This debate has had an enduring legacy - shaping stereotypes and misinforming how we understand child sexual abuse in the 21 Century.

This podcast deals with Child Sexual Abuse. It is not suitable children. If you find this is a topic distressing you may not want skip this show.

If you are affected by issues in this podcast these organisations may be of help.

Ireland www.oneinfour.ie

Britain www.oneinfour.org.uk

The podcast is part of a wider investigation funded by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund where myself and Peter McGuire looked into child sexual abuse in the recent past and the present. You can find more material here.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a passenger announcement. You can now book your train on Uber and get 10% back in credits to spend on Uber eats.
0:11.0	So you can order your own fries instead of eating everyone else's.
0:15.0	Trains, now on Uber. T's is Finn Dwyer. This episode in the series is very different to most other
0:36.7	shows. It deals with a difficult topic from contemporary history, that of child sexual abuse, so it's not suitable for younger listeners.
0:46.5	You also may want to skip this episode if you find this topic distressing.
0:52.3	This episode looks at the forgotten story of how child sexual abuse emerged in Ireland.
0:58.4	Contrary to popular belief, this is not a story that revolves around abuse in the Catholic Church. These events take place a decade
1:05.6	before those horrors emerged. It is instead a now forgotten debate from the 1980s when Irish society first tried to unravel the taboo, shame and
1:16.8	code of silence that had surrounded child sexual abuse for decades.
1:21.9	The debate focused not on the church but instead much closer to home, child
1:26.6	sexual abuse in the family and communities. This debate was very important. It had far-reaching consequences given some of the mistakes
1:35.7	made. It's a fascinating, dark, yet crucially important chapter in our history, given the
1:42.2	lessons we can learn from past mistakes.
1:45.8	This podcast is part of an investigative project that myself and the journalist Peter McGuire
1:51.4	have been working on for the last few months.
1:55.0	Fund by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund, our investigation looked at how Irish society
2:00.0	has dealt with child sexual abuse, both in the recent past and present.
2:04.8	Some of my research does come from another podcast I made over two years ago when I looked
2:09.3	at this topic in a more general fashion.
2:11.8	Through the course of this investigation my views have changed.
2:15.4	As I mentioned this investigation was funded by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund.
2:29.0	We don't remember the 1980s fondly in Ireland. Emigration and recession were features of life.
	...

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