Category: Catholic Church

Fergus Finlay and the maternity hospital ‘gotcha’ trap

Illustration by Tom Halliday

By Anthony Sheridan

HSE board member and Irish Examiner columnist Fergus Finlay is so strongly in favour of the current arrangement for building the National Maternity Hospital that he took the unusual step of breaking board confidentiality rules to support the Government’s plan for the project.

In his column he clearly stated where he stands on the issue. 

Here’s my bottom line. As a citizen, campaigner, and advocate; as a husband; as the father and grandfather of women and girls; there are simply no circumstances under which I would support the development of a new national maternity hospital in Ireland that was influenced by anything — anything — other than the public interest and the interests of women.

He then went on to outline the enormous amount of work he and his colleagues on the audit and risk committee put into checking every aspect of the deal to ensure that nothing was left to chance.

We devoted many, many hours, over many months…examining and analysing the huge set of documents that had been developed to give legal underpinning to the project. We worked with senior management colleagues and had the benefit of legal advice at every stage.

Given all that, it would be reasonable to assume that Mr. Finlay is familiar with all aspects of the project and would have no difficulty in answering questions put by those who are deeply concerned about the entire project.

Such an assumption would be badly mistaken. 

During a discussion on RTE radio with Prof. Louise Kenny, who has serious question on the issue, Finlay was unable to answer even the most basic questions. 

For example:  Why is St. Vincent’s so determined to hold on to ownership of the site?

Finlay: 

Well, you would need to ask them that but I would hazard a guess:  I think they see it as a great act of generosity and they don’t understand why they should be asked to go further.  The rest of the world would like them to gift the land to the state, but they haven’t. 

St. Vincent’s have claimed that ownership of the land is required in order to facilitate integrated care.

Prof. Kenny refutes this.  It doesn’t stack up, she said.  There are many hospitals across the UK  and Europe where the leasehold has no effect whatsoever on care integration.

Incredibly, Finlay agreed, contradicting his core claim that everything has been checked,  that months of forensic investigation with the best legal minds has answered all the questions:

I think you can work out arrangements for integrated care without owning the land…I don’t think that’s a good reason.  My hunch is that it’s about tradition, it’s about history, it’s about pride in their own ownership. 

So here we have  a member of the HSE board, the authority that will decide whether the project proceeds or not, guessing and expressing hunches surrounding the most fundamental questions being asked by those who are deeply worried about the consequences if the project is allowed to proceed in its present form.

Finlay was equally befuddled when asked about the worrying inclusion of the term ‘clinically appropriate’ in the contract.  Kenny said the term was incredibly vague and open to interpretation.  It could mean a doctor having the power to override the wishes of a woman seeking a particular service. 

Finlay:

I think that phrase has been misinterpreted and I wish to god we could find a better phrase that wouldn’t be open to misinterpretation.

When asked if lawyers should come up with a better phrase Finlay did a lot of muttering before lamely concluding with the by now standard excuse of those defending the project – it would involve further delay.

In addition to his ignorance of the facts Finlay’s attitude was also patronising and insulting, not just to Prof. Kenny but to all those who have genuine worries about the Byzantine conditions surrounding this project.  Effectively accusing Prof. Kenny of being a conspiracist, he asked:

Is it that you really believe that somewhere in the background there’s someone waiting to leap out and say ‘we gotcha now’?

Clearly Finlay is unaware of or not concerned about a number of clauses in the contract.  For example, the strong possibility that the apparent generous €10 per annum rent could mushroom into an astonishing €850,000 per annum if certain conditions are not adhered to.

Given the shady and convoluted shenanigans surrounding this whole deal, only the most naïve would believe that it will not eventually turn into a very, very expensive ‘gotcha’ trap for Irish taxpayers.

David Quinn’s selective tolerance

By Anthony Sheridan

Recently, militant Catholic David Quinn blocked me on Twitter. Mr. Quinn was defending the reputation of the Catholic Church[CC].

 Here’s my ‘offending’ tweet:

Wrong.  The CC is global and Ireland was a particularly good breeding ground for brutal priests and nuns who obeyed orders without question.

I’m an atheist so it might be thought a block was to be expected but in fact myself and Quinn have engaged in various twitter discussions over a number of years without a block in sight. 

His decision to block me is all the more puzzling because just nine days later he wrote an article in the Sunday Times extolling his virtues of tolerance. 

He was writing about a matter of which both of us are in full agreement, the hilariously stupid decision of the Trinity College Historical Society to cancel an invitation to atheist Richard Dawkins to speak at the college.

Quinn strongly believes, as I do, that Dawkins should not have been banned, that free speech, no matter how controversial, is paramount.

To demonstrate his unlimited respect for free speech Quinn quoted some views held by Dawkins. 

That raising a child as a Catholic can be compared to sexual abuse.

That the Catholic Church is a disgusting institution. 

That the god of the Old Testament is a genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Obviously, Quinn does not agree with these views but, because of his [apparent] respect for freedom of speech he’s prepared to defend Dawkins’ right to express them.

The decision by the Trinity Historical Society to cancel Dawkins’ speech was, according to Quinn:

Another example of cancel culture, which seeks to deprive people of platforms when their views are deemed offensive to certain groups.

So why, I ask, did Quinn ‘cancel culture’ me from his twitter link for making a relatively benign [and truthful] comment?

Hypocrisy, I suspect, is the answer.  In public Quinn pretends to be a hero of tolerance while in private he deletes those who challenge his beliefs, just as his Catholic Church has been doing for centuries.

Copy to:

David Quinn

Catholic Church: Dark influence still active

By Anthony Sheridan

Letter in today’s Irish Examiner.

The editor decided to remove a section from the final sentence.  I’ve reinstated the section in brackets.

There has been a great deal of outrage expressed at the treatment of former Garda Majella Moynihan.

Much of the comment has focused on the apparent cosy relationship between the An Garda Síochána and the Catholic Church, particularly on sexual and moral issues.

You might think that that dark period of Irish history has been firmly consigned to the past but current events tell a different story:

According to Social Democrat TD Roisin Shorthall, the State is awaiting a series of approvals from the Vatican before the new National Maternity Hospital can be handed over to state control.

Just two weeks ago, during the RTÉ documentary Divorcing God, we learned that a diocesan advisor monitors the teaching of sex education in Athenry Presentation College and reports his findings to the local bishop.

At the same school a religious teacher admitted that sex education is only taught because of a directive from the Department of Education. 

She went on to give an example of how the school flagrantly contradicts this State directive:

“I remind my students that this is a Catholic school and as a Catholic, you do not use contraceptives.”

So, as outpourings of outrage fill the air about the oppressive religious culture of decades ago we are currently appealing to a theocratic foreign state for permission to open a maternity hospital and instructing our children, on the brink of adulthood, not to use contraceptives.

Once again we are witnessing a strain of hypocrisy unique to Irish culture that expresses outrage about religious abuses so long as they are safely buried in the past. […while tolerating current abuses without lifting a finger to protect its victims.]

Anthony Sheridan

Cobh

Co Cork

Presumption of innocence does not universally apply in Ireland

By Anthony Sheridan

During a discussion on Today with Sean O’Rourke surrounding the controversial bail granted to a taxi driver accused of sexual assault Senior Counsel and lecturer in Law at UCD Paul Anthony McDermott was crystal clear:

We have the concept of bail because of the presumption of innocence. Under our system nobody can decide you have committed a crime other than the jury. So, not the media, not the Gardai, not anyone.  It is only a jury. 

So we take the view that unless and until twelve members of the public decide you have committed a crime the system works on the basis that you didn’t commit it. 

That is regarded as a constitutional right but even if we amended the constitution in the morning the European Convention on Human Rights to which Ireland is a party also requires a presumption of innocence.

I’m sure Mr. McDermott will be greatly surprised to learn that his statement is incorrect.

The Irish state does not universally extend the presumption of innocence to its citizens.

There is one very specific crime that the State considers to be so heinous that those found guilty are not just liable to a prison sentence of ten years or a €300,000 fine but are also deprived of the presumption of innocence principle.

That crime is the selling of even one Mass card without the written permission of a Catholic bishop.

There are many who will find it difficult to believe that such a law could exist in a modern democratic republic; so here it is in black and white.

Charities Act 2009

99: [1] A person who sells a Mass card other than pursuant to an arrangement with a recognised person shall be guilty of an offence.

[2] In proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved on the balance of probabilities, that the sale of the Mass card to which the alleged offence relates was not done pursuant to an arrangement with a recognised person.

I am not a legal person so I am open to challenge on my interpretation of this law; which is:

A person who sells a Mass card without the permission of a Catholic bishop will be presumed guilty until he/she can prove the contrary.

The crux of the presumption of innocence principle is very straighforward:

It is not for the accused to establish his/her innocence. It is for the prosecution to prove the guilt of the accused.

Article 99 [1] turns this principle on its head.

Therefore; in Ireland:

The presumption of innocence that is implicit in Article 31.1 of the Irish Constitution does not apply to those accused of this crime.

The presumption of innocence under Article 6 of the European Convention of Human Rights does not apply to those accused of this crime.

The presumption of innocence under Article 11 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not apply to those accused of this crime.

To my knowledge nobody from the legal profession has challenged this draconian law so it is reasonable to assume that, for that profession, there is no difficulty.

It is, however, reasonable to expect members of the legal profession such as Mr. McDermott to include this exemption to the presumption of innocence principle when delivering an opinion on the issue.

Copy to:

Mr. McDermott

Today with Sean O’Rourke

Tuam – time to uncover the truth

 

By Anthony Sheridan

This short letter in the Irish Times, signed by 97 writers and artists, is the most powerful comment I have so far witnessed in response to the horror of Tuam.

Minister Katherine Zappone, the woman who will make the final decision on what is to be done, should have this letter enlarged, framed and placed on her desk to remind her that there is just one decision that leads to justice.

Any other decision will lead to cover-up and more suffering for those involved.

 

Tuam – time to uncover the truth

Sir,

We the undersigned writers and artists appeal to the Government to use the full force of its purse and power to undertake a complete excavation, identification where possible, and dignified reburial of the victims of Tuam. We further appeal for the Government to undertake an active and authentic attempt to identify the many missing individuals who will have been illegally adopted at home and abroad.

In light of significant, possibly criminal, failings at Tuam – of which the lack of burial records for 796 infants and children, the missing bodies of women, the verified existence of “significant quantities” of human remains, and the ongoing testimony of survivors are ample evidence – mere memorialisation is inadequate. Systematic exhumation is necessary to uncover the truth. The Government must use any and all resources (including, as necessary, resources of the Bon Secours Order) to complete a full excavation and identification of all remains on the site as has been consistently requested by Catherine Corless, survivors, and family members of those who lived in the Home. – Yours, etc,

MARY O’DONNELL,

DR AILBHE DARCY,

KIMBERLY

CAMPANELLO,

AIDEEN BARRY,

CARMEL BENSON,

MELONY BETHALA,

DR DYLAN BRENNAN,

MAIRÉAD BYRNE,

FIÓNA BOLGER,

JUNE CALDWELL,

MARY ROSE

CALLAGHAN,

ANNA CAREY,

EILEEN CASEY,

PAUL CASEY,

SARAH CLANCY,

JANE CLARKE,

PATRICK CHAPMAN,

BRÍD CONNOLLY,

SUSAN CONNOLLY,

JUNE CONSIDINE,

BRIGID CORCORAN,

MARION COX,

ENDA COYLE-GREENE,

CATHERINE

ANN CULLEN,

MADELEINE D’ARCY,

MARTINA DEVLIN,

MOYRA DONALDSON,

THEO DORGAN,

CATHERINE DUNNE,

ANNE ENRIGHT,

ATTRACTA FAHY,

TANYA FARRELLY,

ELAINE FEENEY,

KIT FRYATT,

MIA GALLAGHER,

ANTHONY GLAVIN,

SINÉAD GLEESON,

SHAUNA GILLIGAN,

JACKIE GORMAN,

DYLAN COBURN GRAY,

SARAH MARIA GRIFFIN,

VONA GROARKE,

MARY GUCKIAN,

MAURICE HARMON,

JACK HARTE,

JOANNE HAYDEN,

CLAIRE HENNESSY,

RITA ANN HIGGINS,

ELEANOR HOOKER,

VICTORIA KENNEFICK,

ANATOLY

KUDRYAVITSKY,

DAVE LORDAN,

AIFRIC MAC AODHA,

CATHERINE PHIL

MacCARTHY,

JOHN MacKENNA,

NUALA MACKLIN,

ALICE MAHER,

CHRISTODOULOS

MAKRIS,

OANA SANZIANA

MARIAN,

EMER MARTIN,

JOHN McAULIFFE,

FELICITY McCARTAN,

FLISH McCARTHY,

MOLLY McCLOSKEY,

MARIA McMANUS,

DECLAN MEADE,

PAULA MEEHAN,

LIA MILLS,

SINÉAD MORRISSEY,

PAUL MULDOON,

HELENA MULKERNS,

ANNE MULHALL,

SONYA MULLIGAN,

CHRISTINE MURRAY,

UNA NI CHEALLAIGH,

ANNEMARIE

NÍ CHURREÁIN,

NUALA NI CHONCHUIR,

DOIREANN NÍ GHRÍOFA,

EILEEN

NÍ SHUILLEABHÁIN,

LIZ NUGENT,

JEAN O’BRIEN,

MARGARET O’DONNELL,

JOHN O’DONOVAN,

NESSA O’MAHONY,

GERALDINE O’REILLY,

Dr ROBYN ROWLAND AO,

KARL PARKINSON,

JUSTIN QUINN,

CONNIE ROBERTS,

ANNETTE SKADE,

KELLY E. SULLIVAN,

ANNE TANNAM,

SUSAN TOMASELLI,

JESSICA TRAYNOR,

SAMANTHA WALTON,

DAVID WHEATLEY,

ADAM WYETH.

 

 

 

Tuam babies: Minister Zappone to opt for cover-up?

 

 

By Anthony Sheridan

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone will shortly make a recommendation to Government on what is to be done about the remains of the hundreds of children dumped in a septic tank in Tuam by the Catholic Church.

She has two choices:

She can recommend a full forensic excavation of the site along with DNA analysis or she can recommend the erection of a memorial to the victims

The first option will mean the State accepting responsibility for its part in the horror and by so doing force the Catholic Church to admit its crimes against humanity. In a sentence, this option will deliver justice and closure to the victims and survivors of the horror.

The second option is to leave the remains where they were discarded, place a memorial over the site and walk away. In a sentence, this option will inflict another injustice on the victims and protect the guilty politicians and clergy from being made accountable.

We don’t have to wait for Minister Zappone’s decision, we already know she will opt for the second option – why?

Because Minister Zappone operates within a corrupt political/administrative system that will instruct her to opt for cover-up rather than justice.

She may, of course, possess the courage to challenge state power and be willing to suffer the personal and career consequences that would inevitably follow.

Unfortunately for the people of Ireland, courage among politicians is as rare as justice for the State’s many victims.

Copy to:

Minister Zappone

 

Mattie McGrath TD: A dangerous ignoramus

 

 

By Anthony Sheridan

Independent TD Mattie McGrath is a dangerous ignoramus and is therefore unfit to serve as a public representative.

His condemnation of those who have objected to the handing over of the €300 million maternity hospital to the Sisters of Charity clearly and disgracefully displays his ignorance of the heinous crimes against humanity committed by the Catholic Church over many decades.

I think this row is a storm in a teacup. As far as I can see it’s a just a bash the nuns period in Ireland.

When I hear morons like McGrath make such ignorant comments I think of the depraved priest Fr. Reynolds who admitted to abusing more than twenty girls, one of which he raped by inserting a crucifix into her vagina and back passage.

Reynolds is just one of thousands of priest, nuns and brothers responsible for the holocaust of abuse perpetrated by the Catholic Church against children and adults.

It is the long history of heinous crimes against humanity by the Catholic Church that forms the basis for the widespread revulsion of the Government’s decision to hand over the proposed €300 million National Maternity Hospital to the Sisters of Charity.

But according to McGrath the almost universal horror in response to Government plans is nothing more than a storm in a teacup.

There can be only two reasons for McGrath’s extreme views and ignorance.

Either he hasn’t read any of the many reports of recent years outlining in disgusting detail the countless accounts of horrific abuse carried out by priests and nuns or he is aware of these reports but believes the current objections to the handing over of the hospital to the Catholic Church constitute a greater injustice than the decades of horror.

If McGrath has not read or sufficiently informed himself of the crimes committed by the Catholic Church then he is unfit to serve as a public representative.

If he is aware of the crimes but still believes, as he has stated, that the objections are actually outrageous sectarian attacks on the nuns, then it is reasonable to conclude that his natural morality has been seriously damaged by the warped morality of the Catholic Church.

Here’s an example of the brutal reality McGrath’s damaged morality refuses to see.

Extract from the Ryan Report:

One person described how they attempted to tell nuns they had been molested by an ambulance driver, only to be “stripped naked and whipped by four nuns to ‘get the devil out of you.”

Another described how they were removed from their bed and “made to walk around naked with other boys whilst brothers used their canes and flicked at their penis.”

Yet another was “tied to a cross and raped whilst others masturbated at the side.”

McGrath compounds his ignorance by supporting what I call the idiot’s myth regarding the running of hospitals by nuns. This idiot’s myth claims that if only the nuns were put back in charge of hospitals all the problems besetting the health service would instantly disappear.

Put in a couple of nuns with buckets and scrubbing brushes supervised by a matron with the mindset of a parade ground sergeant major and they would be performing open heart surgery before you could say – most Irish politicians are gombeen morons.

Here’s McGrath’s response when asked if religious orders should be taken out of the health service completely.

They are mainly out of it and we can see the bedlam. When we had matrons and sisters in charge of the hospitals, they were clean, they were efficiently ran, they weren’t over staffed with managers and they did a good job.

Here’s the reality that McGrath’s damaged morality is incapable of comprehending.

Extract from the Murphy Report:

The complainant alleged that the nun was complicit in the abuse on these occasions and that the nun herself participated in the abuse and watched it taking place. She alleged that she was gang-raped by three or four men in that house and that Fr. Cassius was one of the participants in the rape.

McGrath and ignorant politicians like him are unfit for public office.

Copy to:

McGrath

 

 

Catholic Church: The brutal truth

By Anthony Sheridan

Truth poses the single greatest threat to those who wield power within a corrupt political/administrative system such as the one that currently operates in Ireland.

The corrupt and those who support the corrupt must ensure that the truth is denied, warped or simply ignored.

We witness this culture of truth denying in abundance in response to the latest atrocities committed by the Catholic Church.

So here’s the truth in all its brutality:

The crimes committed by the Catholic Church in Tuam and countless other locations around the country since the foundation of the State are nothing less than crimes against humanity.

Crimes against humanity: Certain acts that are deliberately committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population or an identifiable part of a population.

Cimes against humanity are not isolated or sporadic events but are part either of a government policy or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.

 

The following are just some of the crimes against humanity committed by the Catholic Church in Ireland.

Dehumanisation

Human experimentation

Extrajudicail punishments

Forced disappearances

Kidnapping

Unjust imprisonment

Slavery

Torture

Rape

Child trafficking

Operation of forced labour camps

Brain washing

Sale of corpes to medical establishments

Illegal disposal of victim’s bodies

 

The following people, organisations and institutions are directly responsible for these crimes against humanity.

The Catholic Church from the Pope down to the individual nuns and priests who committed the crimes.

The politicans who handed over absolute power to the Catholic Church.

State institutions such as the Gardai, Dept. of Justice, Dept. of Education, those responsible for child welfare to name just a few.

The following mealy-mouthed excuses do not in any way exonerate those guilty of crimes against humanity.

They Catholic Church did more good than bad.

It was in the context of the time.

We’re all to blame.

We were just obeying orders.

The whole thing is exaggerated.

The fathers are to blame.

The families of the victims are to blame.

The British are to blame.

We must learn lessons and move on (without looking back).

If these excuses are acceptable, and many defenders of the Catholic Church do accept them, then the great bulk of Nazi concentration camp commandants/guards are also innocent.

When the people of Ireland remove the corrupt political system that played a major role in these crimes against humanity and replace it with a properly functioning democratic republic the following actions should be taken.

A formal complaint of crimes against humanity against the Catholic Church and other religions submitted to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

An immediate and wide-ranging criminal investigation by the Gardai.

The immediate seizure of church property to be liquified and used to compensate the survivers.

The immediate freezing of all church financial assets as a stick to ensure compliance with state authorities.

A complete separation of Church and State.

A complete secularisation of all state funded schools and hospitals.

Anything less than the above measures will constitute a further crime against the countless thousands of victims of the Catholic Church.

Fergus Finlay: Damaged by vile corruption?

 

By Anthony Sheridan

Once again Fergus Finlay is anguishing over the horrors inflicted on Grace by the State. Here are some of his anguished comments taken from Today with Sean O’Rourke:

It’s one of the most shaming things that I’ve come across for a long, long time.

It’s impossible to believe that in the 1990s and 2000s our systems are allowed to run like that.

This is something that has happened again and again and again. It’s not enough to know what happened, we have to know why it happened.

Here’s why it happened and why it will continue to happen.

Ireland is an intrinsically corrupt state where, over several decades, a cabal of political parties principally made up of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour morphed into a corrupt ruling class.

In effect, Ireland is a one party state where these three entities pretend to be separate parties while plundering the State’s resources and abusing its citizens.

The system became irretrievably infected with the disease of corruption in 1979 when the criminal politician Haughey came to power and reached its catastrophic end in 2008 when the rotten system careered over the cliff of economic disaster taking with it the wealth, dreams, ambitions and, most of all, the trust of the Irish people.

Since that year of national betrayal a significant and growing number of citizens have been actively working to bring down the entire rotten edifice and replace it, for the first time in history, with a truly democratic republic.

This corrupt system, which Finlay so admires, is directly responsible for the creation of a culture where vulnerable citizens like Grace are left unprotected and vulnerable to the devices of extremely evil and brutal people.

Lest anyone think I’m being too harsh on Finlay, consider this:

On the very day he was shedding crocodile tears over the horrors inflicted on Grace an article, written by him, was published in the Irish Examiner praising Enda Kenny, one of the principal architects of the corrupt political culture responsible for her suffering.

Finlay’s article is a grave insult to the countless thousands of Irish citizens, including Grace, who have suffered and even died as a direct result of political corruption.

The article is sickening in its pathetic attempt at lightheartedness when writing about a man who is responsible for so much damage and suffering.

Here’s a sample of quotes:

There may be a few moves in Enda yet – a tango with Angela, a cha-cha-cha with the entire European Council.

When all is said and done, Enda Kenny will be remembered, I think, as being bigger than the sum of his parts.

Maintaining the dignity of a small country that believes in human rights, while also protecting the special relationship we have with a country that is vital to our interests, is no small task. (On Kenny’s St. Patrick’s Day visit to the White House)

Here’s a fact: Grace will never dance a tango or a cha-cha-cha. The corrupt political system, as represented by Enda Kenny, has seen to that.

Here’s another fact: Grace will never be remembered for the sum of her parts because the corrupt political system responsible for her nightmare destroyed any potential she may have had for happiness.

And a final fact:

To even think, never mind actually print, that a compulsive liar like Kenny represents an administration that believes in human rights, given all the vile revelations of recent decades, is nothing less than vomit inducing.

The most charitable interpretation of Finlay’s blind loyalty to the corrupt political system that has wreaked such devastating damage and suffering on Ireland and its people is that he too has been somehow damaged by its vile influence.

Copy to:

Fergus Finlay