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TODAY MARKS EXACTLY a year since Taoiseach Enda Kenny stood up in a sparsely populated Dáil chamber to deliver one of the most significant speeches in the history of the State.
In a landmark address, Kenny outlined his views on the publication of the Cloyne report which had investigated and exposed how church authorities had dealt with allegations of abuse in the Cork diocese.
The report outlined how 19 priests abused dozens of children between 1996 and 2009 and it accused those in authority at the diocese of gross negligence for not doing enough to address the issue.
Kenny said the “heartbreaking” revelations contained in the report showed “the dysfunction, the disconnection, the elitism that dominates the Vatican today” and was hugely scathing of the church’s treatment of victims of sexual abuse at the hands of members of the clergy.
YouTube: rte
The speech was one that was recognised worldwide as a significant moment in Irish history. The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd said it was a “breathtaking” intervention which “thrilled” a “bankrupt and battered Eire”.
In the months that followed, the speech was not well received at the Vatican which disputed much of the unprecedented denunciation of the Catholic Church’s highest authority.
The Vatican said Kenny’s claims during the course of his speech were “unfounded” and based on an incorrect reading of a 1997 Vatican letter expressing “serious reservations” about the Irish bishops’ 1996 framework document requiring bishops to report abusers to gardaí.
Also in the past year there has been considerable controversy caused by the decision to close the Irish embassy in the Vatican, a decision which continues to cause a degree of division between TDs in the coalition government.
As well as this there been some criticism of the government’s introduction of legislation which makes it mandatory to report allegations of serious crimes against children. Some believe this could force priests to break to seal of confession or face prosecution and a minimum of five years imprisonment.
But aside from the very obvious change in Church-State relations in this country as a result of Kenny’s speech Andrew Madden, the author of Altar Boy: A Story of Life after Abuse, believes the government has lived-up to much of the rhetoric Kenny used.
“I think what we’re seeing are not only the words of the speech being lived up to but preparation for government in opposition meant that that they were able to hit the ground running,” he said of Fine Gael and its ministers.
He praised the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, for bringing forward a number of legislative measures in the last year such as the Children First Bill, the steps taken to establish a Child and Family Support Agency and withholding information legislation.
Madden hopes not only that Fitzgerald remains in place for the next few years of this current administration but that the government’s promise on the children’s rights referendum is honoured later this year
He continued: “If it is in the autumn of this year it will be nearly two years since they came to power. There’s work to do on the wording and we’ll be watching very carefully to make sure that the wording hasn’t been watered down from February 2010 wording.”
“All that together I think shows that government is doing a very good job and has lived up to the words of that speech,” he said while noting that children were being affected by some of the government’s other policies in relation to children such as the cuts in education.
And what of the Church-State relationship today in Ireland? Madden added: “The relationship now is more reflective of the reality in which we live. I think that’s appropriate.”
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The one and only time that Kenny showed leadership, courage and backbone. Has been a complete disappointment ever since.
“One year on: What’s happened since Enda Kenny’s landmark Cloyne speech?”
Answer F**K ALL
I had great hopes for the Government when I heard that speech. I thought finally , we are getting somewhere.
More hot air from a flat deflated Taoiseach!
How can people take mr pr man seriously. He spoke those words only because people wanted to hear them at the time. But he knew like all politicians know the Irish quickly forget!
‘Dysfunctional,disconnected and elitist’ ? Does that not describe our government/insiders? Enda and Eamonn, your time is rapidly running out…
So let them be, who have had sex with children!
And turn Your rage on those who turned their eyes,
Intending to defend Your church with lies!
Nor were they ever fit for Your dominion!
These hypocrites are far worse than the poor
Polluted souls they moved from place to place,
Avid to avoid undue disgrace,
Trafficking in silence to be sure.
Remember them when You return! For they,
Instead of proper penance, yet remain
Cardinals, bishops, princes in Your name,
Knowing well what price they ought to pay!
English translation: Clerical paedophiles are bad, but so are their facilitators who protected them.
Conclusion: Poetry is a handy way to say something obvious in a way that make you sound intellectual.
In some ways, nothing happened – nothing much anyway. I’d love to see the catholic church kicked out of the country or at the very least hauled through the courts with the pope ultimately responsible being locked up. The church has had too much power in this country for way too long. Even if it was made an illegal organisation would be good. Pope JPII’s young people of Ireland, I love you statement can be seen in a different light now. Maybe when he kissed the ground at the airport he was really hoping to get it up the ass – should have Father Ted style.
That speech should be remembered for what it was, extremely populist and opportunistic. It was the perfect time for such a speech, but it was not as brave as people seem to think.
The church was once viewed as the pinnacle of the Irish system, a very powerful entity and the moral beacon to light the path. Roll on the years and its disgusting antics are displayed to the citizens and they rightly lose faith in it. The power of the church topples, its influence diminishes and its beacon fades.
At the same time the population are becoming aware that they have been mugged by their past political leaders, and indeed that the world at large may not be as we once conceived it to be.Election time comes round, the people are weary but angry and have had enough lies…In to power waltzes Enda and associates on the promise of change,truth, transparency etc.
There is a vacuum of moral leadership perceived to exist…without a beacon, how will we see the path?
Enda’s speech that day was effectively, an attempted coup by him to replace the church as the moral leader of the country with himself. Like a young up and coming fighter, giving the disgraced punch drunk old champion of yesteryear a beat down. He saw the crocked church, hit it his best shot and secured some popularity as the guy who stood up to the church. Lets not kid ourselves, he would not have attempted it back when the church was the champ!
P.S. I AM A FAN OF NEITHER.
I believe the time has come for contributors to be asked their affiliations to political parties. Looking at the posts on this story with two exceptions I see names and nom de plumes associated with Sinn Fein . This makes it unlikely that the Journal will ever be highly read and that’s a pity because it gives us so much with day and evening long support from the journalists.
Please clarify.. Are you trying to insinuate that if someone is associated with SF that makes them undesirable somehow?
Not only this, but that their presence in the comments section (which is fully open to any member of the public subject to the rules of the comments policy) will somehow affect the journals readership?
Where do we start? Guilt by association, circumstantial ad hominem,
Poisoning the well, it’s very poor logic, and it makes you look quite elitist / snobbish.
Would you be suggesting that an FF readership would damage the journal too, because you failed to mention that.. How about FG supporters? Labour?
I don’t find any of our political parties truly credible and as such have no party preference. I will vote based upon how well the individual councillor represents my views, and how good they are at their job. Which, according to “Common Sense” is what democracy is supposed to be all about.
I was having a gawk through the 2011 Party Leaders Allowance data from SIPO the last day. No surprise to see FG were the biggest spender on “Media Training” (€70,000) and “Consultancy fees including H.R., Media, I.T. & P.R. Management”. On top of that, remember Kenny intervening last yearto get Ciaran Conlon (his “media manager”) a €35,000 raise to €127,000 per year. All paid for by the public.
Remember, what you see and hear through the media is cleverly micromanaged by PR firms. Be swayed by actions, not words.
Meant to say: the figure for “Consultancy fees including H.R., Media, I.T. & P.R. Management” was €258,693.
The SIPO report can be found here: http://www.sipo.gov.ie/en/Reports/StateFinancing/FundingreceivedunderPartyLeadersLegislation/290512-ReportonExpenditureofthePartyLeadersAllowance2011/File,15730,en.pdf
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