THE EXTENT of what was highlighted in last week’s report on abuse was a major surprise for the Bishop of Killaloe.Dr Willie Walsh said that he was occasionally physically assaulted in his own schooldays, but did not bear a grudge.
Referring to the report, he said he was very saddened by what he read.
“My feelings are of real sadness and shame and one of questioning how did this possibly happen,” he said.
“At 74 years of age and therefore living at that time, I have to ask myself the question, was I part of that society that allowed this to happen? Do I share the responsibility for it?” he said.
“I knew that the story would not be good but I was surprised by the level of it,” said Dr Walsh.
“What went on was totally unacceptable. When I visit schools today, I see them as happy places where children are respected,” he said.
However, he said he would need an insight into resources available for religious groups, before suggesting who should foot the bill for compensation.
“I don’t know these facts and therefore I have no idea what resources are there. What I do know is that individual religious groups effectively have no money. I know that one order of nuns have an allowance of €7 a day. Do we want to take €7 a day from people? Most of the people who perpetrated those things are dead. Ability to pay has to be considered. There aren’t simple answers to it,” he said.
He also recalled beatings he was subjected to, during his days in school, but said his memories were happy overall.
“I do recall getting beatings when I was going to school and thinking if you were bold you should be beaten because that was the philosophy at the time – if you were bold you should be beaten,” he said.
“I certainly took occasional beatings – for acting the fool and getting caught – which by today’s standards would be considered quite severe. I certainly don’t blame anybody. That was the system at the time,” he added.
Looking to the future, Dr Walsh said that many challenges lie ahead.
“As a Church, we have to continue to work to ensure that any young people in the care of the church should be treated with respect and dignity to ensure what happened doesn’t happen again. The State must ensure that adequate resources are made available to take the greatest possible care of children, especially children in need,” he said.
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