‘Collective national shame’ over abuse at schools, Harris says

There should be a “collective sense of national shame” over historical sexual abuse at schools run by religious orders, the Taoiseach has said.

Simon Harris also said religious institutions and organisations “must also contribute to redress”.

Almost 2,400 allegations of historical sexual abuse were recorded by 308 schools run by religious orders across Ireland, a Government-ordered scoping inquiry revealed.

The 700-page report said the claims were made against 884 alleged abusers in day and boarding schools run by 42 religious orders.

The scoping inquiry said it had contacted 73 religious orders that ran or are still running schools in Ireland, with 42 having records of historical sexual abuse allegations.

In the immediate days after the publication of the report, gardai were contacted more than 160 times about similar allegations – some of which were the first time the individual had come forward.

Speaking to reporters at the Fine Gael think-in on Wednesday, Mr Harris said the scoping inquiry shines a light on “lives that have been destroyed”.

He added: “There should be that collective sense of national shame that people knew, people clearly knew.

“I mean the scale of this, the numbers: people knew, lots of people knew.”

Mr Harris said the religious organisations at the centre of the allegations should “act in the values of Christianity” in contributing to redress for victims.

He added: “Before I get into the language of you know, adversarial language, I would encourage organisations that consider themselves to be Christian to act in the values of Christianity.”

Asked if the Government could take further action if it was unsatisfied with religious organisations’ contributions, he said: “We are the sovereign Government of Ireland.

“Of course, we have levers at our disposal.

“The Government of Ireland, the Oireachtas of Ireland, of course can take action.

“Lessons must be learned from the past when, quite frankly, the church was let off the hook.

“The taxpayer was put on the hook.

“The church was let off the hook.

“But I don’t think today would be helpful to wade into what those levers look like.

“Other than to say this: I expect people who speak Christianity to practise it in terms of how they respond to this situation.”