There is a real air of political defeatism around dealing with these horrific crimes

MANY of us will have had the same experience growing up. In the later years of secondary school there was giddy talk about such-andsuch a teacher’s doubtful behaviour, which never amounted to much beyond giggles at the corner shop, where we bought single cigarettes and tried not to cough too much as we puffed them.

Very many more of us were rocked back on our tracks by the stark revelations which began to emerge from the mid-1990s onwards. The scandal of child sex abuse was excessively hurtful to contemplate with an excess of evil where we were told everything was especially saintly.

There are not adequate words across many languages to fully express our shock, horror and revulsion.

But over the ensuing quarter century remedies have proved scarcer than hens’ teeth.

The first big wave to hit was the revelations about religious people’s flagrant abuse of sacred trust in various institutions. These waves continued to break across the nation for fully two decades.

The aftermath is in very many cases unresolved as the survivors of this flagrant and base abuse are still awaiting half-promised and vague remedies. But even advocacy groups which act for survivors of this heinous abuse will concede religious people are among those far less likely to engage in this reprehensible behaviour in these times.

As the years have flown in, we have been left to contemplate another grim reality: the dangers that lurk within the oft-revered institution of the Irish family. Now for many vulnerable children, and some adults, that institution can be a very dangerous place to be. More recently too, we have seen new technologies further compound the difficulties. Social media affords abusers new opportunities to pursue their vile aims.

It would be crude to apportion blame on one section of the authorities over another for the absence of real remedies. Politically this issue is murder, it will never be a vote winner – it can all too easily become a vote loser. Now that reality reflects as much upon us as it does on political leaders.

The bitter reality is that over two decades the authorities have been limping behind, trying to play catch-up and find some effective remedies for this.

But something of the real air of political defeatism surrounding the scourge of child sexual abuse came through in a Dáil debate on the issue on Wednesday. Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said recent revelations highlighted serious gaps in the State’s ability to deal with these crimes.

The man who was a senior government minister from 1997 until 2011 warned that less than half of the recommendations in a 2012 Garda Inspectorate report on fighting child sex abuse had been implemented to date. He said it took up to 2017 for a recommended victims’ helpline to be established.

There were still no child advocacy centres which had been recommended in that report. Perhaps most alarmingly, inexperienced and untrained gardaí were still interviewing child sex victims and taking their statements. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar conceded there was a need for more work to improve facilities to investigate and clamp down on child sex abuse. He pointed to recent legislation that strengthened the law.

But we need more than law – we need political will.

‘‘ Over two decades the authorities have been limping behind, trying to play catch-up and find some effective remedies for this