Extradition procedures are currently underway for a man in his eighties who faces allegations of sexual misconduct at a school operated by the Spiritan Order in Dublin, as stated by An Garda Síochána, the Irish police. The police have refrained from identifying the country where the man is being extradited from.
Following the airing of the 2022 RTÉ radio documentary “Blackrock Boys”, which unveiled sexual misconduct accusations at the Spiritan-run Blackrock College and Willow Park School in South Dublin, there have been over 150 people who have reached out to An Garda.
This documentary was created by Liam O’Brien and featured interviews with David Ryan and his deceased brother Mark who shared their ordeals of abuse suffered at these institutions.
In February of the previous year, a man in his seventies was brought before the Dún Laoghaire District Court, facing 23 charges of indecent assault involving seven victims. This case is still ongoing. A separate accused individual passed away prior to the commencement of his court procedures.
According to a release by the Garda Press Office, since the broadcast of the aforementioned documentary, they have handed over “files relating to 14 victims” to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. It also added that an investigation regarding numerous victims has reached its conclusion as the alleged perpetrators have subsequently died.
Allegations targeting current and previous members of the Spiritan Order (previously recognised as Holy Ghost Fathers) are being managed by the Garda’s Sexual Crime Management Unit, part of the Garda National Protective Services Bureau, which oversees all claims of clerical sexual abuse reported to the police.
Earlier in the month, there was revelation that almost 300 former students of Spiritan-operated schools have disclosed abuse instances within these institutions.
A recent report from a Spiritan survivors’ collective stated that the “vast majority” of these complaints originated from Willow Park and Blackrock College. Abuse complaints also emerged from other Spiritan-run institutes like St Mary’s College in Rathmines, Templeogue and Rockwell colleges located in Dublin and Co Tipperary, respectively.
A post on the Blackrock College Union webpage revealed that allegations have been launched against 49 Spiritan clergy and 12 lay staff, implicating all Spiritan-managed schools in Ireland, by upwards of 290 individuals.
Thus far, approximately 50 restorative justice gatherings have occurred, facilitating direct discussions between trauma survivors and the existing leaders of the Spiritan congregation. Initiated in the early days of 2021, a collective known as Restore Together, which is made up of members of the Spiritan congregation and alumni of Blackrock College, has been established.
The group applies a restorative justice framework, enabling survivors of trauma to converse with the Spiritan leaders presently overseeing the schools. These leaders have made public their apologies to those affected and the congregation is financing therapeutic help for the survivors.
The Blackrock College Union has recently suggested that a financial compensation programme should be introduced by the Spiritans. Comprehensive plans for such compensation have been provided to the Spiritan congregation and their legal representatives by Restore Together.
Essential to Restore Together is that this compensation model focuses on a survivor’s needs, is non-confrontational and recognises the effects of trauma. They acknowledge that no monetary amount could ever make up for a stolen childhood, but insist that the compensation scheme must bring about complete Christian justice to victims and grant recognition of the victims and their trials.
Restore Together asserts achieving this might require the payouts to, at the minimum, equal what a survivor might expect to be awarded in a victorious legal battle. While the Spiritan congregation has yet to lay down the specifics of the scheme, they have recently communicated that they are currently unable to provide a timeline for when the initiative is expected to launch.