Leo Varadker has ignored several calls from his fellow Fine Gael TD, Bernard Durkan for an investigation into what’s going on in the secret Family Law Courts where mothers are losing custody of their children and are “subjected to the kind of abuse that was used in prisoner of war camps”.
There’s absolutely no doubt that the Taoiseach, Minister for Children and Minister for Children are fully aware that Deputy Durkan is speaking about mothers losing their children when they report child sex abuse.
How do we know this?
When representatives of ABC (Alliance of Birth Mothers Campaigning for Justice) visited the Dáil in December they had an informal meeting with Roderic O’Gorman and he was briefed on this issue. A request for a formal meeting with the Minister has not yet been honoured.
ABC are not at liberty to give details of the briefing given to Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee who is currently on maternity leave.
Finally, it is inconceivable that the Taoiseach has not been briefed by Deputy Durkan given that he has raised the issue with him during Leader’s Questions on a number of occasions.
Deputy Durkan has called for an investigation into the matter.
In the UK social workers have criticised the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after he claimed victims of child sexual abuse were ignored by the profession.
He made the comments during an interview with ‘The London Economic’ in the wake of the government’s announcement to make reporting of child sexual abuse mandatory.
Speaking about historic cases where children were sexually exploited by gangs of largely Pakistani men in places like Rochdale, Rotherham and Telford, he said: “When victims and other whistleblowers came forward their claims were often ignored by social workers, local politicians or even the police.
“The reason they were ignored was due to cultural sensitivity and political correctness.”
Responding to criticisms from social workers, a spokeperson for Number 10 said: “The Prime Minister’s words are factually accurate and stand as they are.”