THE HEADLINES THIS week focus on the death of Pope Francis in Rome. But here in Ireland we have lost another influential figure, a man committed to justice and truth.

Michael O’Brien made a significant contribution to our collective knowledge about the effects of sexual violence against children and the harmful effects of the state bodies created to respond to survivors of institutional abuse.

Mr O’Brien created one of the most powerful moments in Irish public life when he shared his experience of being raped as a child in St Joseph’s Industrial School in Clonmel. In May 2009, in an unplanned intervention, he spoke from the audience on RTÉ’s Questions and Answers programme.

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On the panel that evening were Minister for the Environment Noel Dempsey and Leo Varadkar, then in opposition. The topic was the recent Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. 

Extending over 2,600 pages, it painted a devastating picture of violence against children in the industrial school system. It found that sexual abuse was endemic in boys’ schools and that physical and emotional abuse and neglect were pervasive across the system.

Sexual abuse was hidden by the congregations and abusive men were transferred to other schools where they re-offended. It found that abusers were able to operate undetected for long periods, and even if detected, religious authorities seldom reported sexual abuse.

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John Kelly, an abuse victim, reads a copy of the 'Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse' in Dublin, Ireland,........

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