A Dublin priest dedicated to fighting child prostitution in the Philippines claims foreign sex holidays have the potential to turn Irishmen into paedophiles like Josef Fritzl.Fr Shay Cullen, a Columban priest based in the Philippines for 30 years, says the growing number of Irish people travelling to the Philippines each year on so called "golf holidays" don't know the kind of danger they're in.
"These men go out to the Phillipines not for golf but for sex," he said. "They have sex with prostitutes and soon they're having sex with underage girls. They get a taste for it which means when they return to Ireland they want to have sex with children again, thereby putting Irish children in danger."
Cullen cites the example of Austrian Fritzl, who is facing trial for imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her six children, and who regularly went on sex holidays to Thailand.
"Josef Fritzl is the chilling example. Anyone who saw him out in Thailand said he was never without a young girl. If that wasn't evil enough, we can see what happened when he came home to his family in Austria."
Cullen, who was honoured at the Quinn Healthcare People of the Year Awards last night in City West, says no one can put numbers on the amount of Irishmen going on sex holidays but he believes the numbers are growing.
"There are enough Irishmen visiting the Philippines for them to rename bars the Shamrock Pub and the Molly Malone. I met a guy from Wicklow in one of these pubs and he was happy to tell me all his mates were out there as well. They don't have any shame about what they're doing because if they're not ashamed about having sex with minors, they're not ashamed to be talking about it."
Cullen says these Irish sex tourists should beware as their activities are being monitored by his organisation Preda (People's Recovery, Empowerment and Development Assistance Foundation) which, as well as freeing children from brothels, stages undercover operations to catch child abusers.
This has resulted in many high-profile successes including the capture of an English paedophile who had murdered a boy in Bristol and long prison sentences for members of a Norwegian sex ring.
No Irish nationals have yet been convicted on similar charges but Cullen believes it is only a matter of time.
"From what my workers are telling me on the ground and what I've seen on the ground, it's inevitable that an Irish man or several Irishmen will be facing charges over there soon."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: ST)