Naomi Long
JUSTIFIABLY, AND admirably, newspapers, and TV and radio programmes reported and commented on the recent suspended sentence for soldier Cathal Crotty, who viciously assaulted Natasha O’Brien.
Outrage was followed by reporting on Army and Garda tolerance of violent offenders and on the unending war on women by a significant sub-section of men.
In the wake of the suspended sentence issued to Cathal Crotty, Colm Keena of the Irish Times also reported on Bláthnaid Raleigh, raped by Mullingar Rugby Club member Johnny Moran (26), who a fortnight ago was jailed for nine years. Keena quoted Raleigh saying about the rugby club: “They haven’t come out on their own social media, and said, we don’t condone this, we think this is terrible. They sent out a statement to the media, but not to their own.”
Raleigh said that, after Moran’s conviction, the club “could have acknowledged that his presence… would have been very hurtful to me and my family, and used it as a positive thing to condemn his behaviour… What about for their women’s teams? What message does that send out? I played there as a youth, in their girls’ team.”
These are important sentiments and it is important that the public be made aware of failures by organisations and that, even if they are unaware of a member’s actions, they recognise their broader social responsibility to publicly stand by victims and to educate young men.
Well done Colm Keena and the IT.
But what about the IT’s failure to report a clergyman child sex offender, his church or his victim? The church did not refer him to police and instead moved him to a parish far away, afterwards promoting him and allowing him to bask in ecclesiastical and even academic respectability.
The paper refused to follow BBC Northern Ireland and Belfast’s Sunday Life in September-October 2022 by reporting abuse allegations against this deceased cleric. A north-south angle, moving him from Antrim to Tipperary, should have interested it.
A year later the IT refused to report a church history society, founded by the same clergyman, which – instead of sending out a clear message of abhorrence of crimes against children – silently erased his name and role from its online presence. The history of an academic award in his name was also falsified.
There was zero interest from the paper of reference, which was alerted to the story by Griffith College academic Dr Niall Meehan.
Last week the newspaper refused to report NI justice minister Naomi Long’s related decision not to appeal Belfast’s High Court striking down a prohibition on naming sex offenders for 25 years after death. The church had used that law to stop news media naming the sex-offending clergyman.
There you have it, the IT reported on Mullingar Rugby Club for not doing enough. The Church of Ireland and the Church of Ireland Historical Society, which protected themselves and offender Canon WG Neely, were ignored.
Double standards? Does any Irish Times journalist know why? Please report.
