In the news
By Seán O Donaile
- Prime Time (RTE)
- Newsnight (BBC 2)
- The Sunday Game (Network 2)
Recent high profile sexual abuse cases in Ireland have overshadowed the
fact that most abuse occurs within the extended family, as outlined on
RTÉ's Prime Time on Tuesday last.
Contrary to the `man in the black car with sweets' or the `Stranger =
Danger' scenario, most abusers know their victims very well, be they
parents, uncles or next door neighbours.
Most are not paedophiles, but rather men who, for a combination of factors,
turn to children near them to meet these emotional needs and subsequently
abuse them, with as much as 95% of all abuse going unchecked.
John found himself `attracted' to his 12-year-old daughter and began to
`play games with her, touching her breasts to test her reaction' and after
assuring himself `that there was no harm in it' then abuse subsequently
worsened and continued for two years.
Common to most victims, Laura ``just blocked it out of my mind - he was
still my Dad'', until a younger sister brought the case to light, leading
to a two year stretch in jail - ``I felt the guilty one for putting my
father away,'' while John's wife described the trauma of ``my husband being
sent to jail and I to Hell''.
There are almost 300 sex offenders in 26-County jails, yet only ten are
receiving treatment and that on a voluntary basis, a service described by
Social Workers and experts as ``totally inadequate- most offenders come out
after five years totally unreformed and ready to revert to their ways''.
The treatment, which begins with an admission of guilt and concludes with
``an acceptance to develop `safer' strategies'' is highly successful, yet the
government is unwilling to spend the shillings, preferring the
vote-catching Sex Offenders register, as drawn up under the Sex Offenders
Bill, currently before the Dáil.
For teenagers, who astonishingly,comprise one third of offenders, treatment
is minimal, and there are only two private treatment centres, in Dublin and
Donegal, at present.
While Ireland is slowly taking its head from under the sand, the Sex
Offenders Bill is but a small step, and a multi-layered approach is vital
if we are to protect future victims.
Alas this seems unlikely in the short term as increased public spending is
not a vote catcher - so much for the new start.
Over on BBC2, Newsnight was assessing the Laurence Dallaglio drugs
revelations.
Like others in the public domain, Dallaglio `took drugs a long time ago,
only on a recreational basis'. He probably didn't even inhale! He
apologises for `lying' to the tabloids, though why someone would do such a
buffoonish thing is beyond me.
While the tabloids claim to be taking a moral stance to clean up our
streets etc., the sole motive as it always has been is to sell more papers
and promote simple right-wing philosophies.
Newsnight rightly questioned the maturity of debate and questioned the
sense in criminalising `soft drugs' i.e. cannabis, ecstacy.
The `hang sangwidges, flashks and hankies on bald heads' are back in vogue
as the `real men' come out to play ball and talk similar plural on The
Sunday Game. On other channels, all the old Georgie Best footage has been
dusted down on the Beeb and Sky News has been trying to get us in a tizzy
over David Beckham's supposed thigh strain, though they should be more
worried about his stubble, but they were outshone by the efforts of
high-scoring Cork, who trounced a hapless Waterford side, who should know
better than to be entering a highly competitive All Ireland, where only
they and Kilkenny can rightly be described as no-hopers.
Everybody's favourite, Pat Spill-Hane, has been given his own slot on
Mondays to gripe and grumble, in his efforts to become the GAA's answer to
Eamon Dunphy.
Meanwhile the mouth waters as the big guns come out to play over the next
few Sundays.
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