Absolute shock
error led to false allegations about Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe being included in a file it held on the police officer.
Mr Flynn recalled his own shock at the correspondence that arrived ‘completely out of the blue’.
‘These matters are pertaining to interviews with An Garda Síochána under strict confidentiality in very difficult circumstances,’ he said.
He said he had been in contact with six other victims who say they have received similar letters.
In Mr Flynn’s case, a letter was posted to him on November 17. It was marked ‘strictly private and confidential, strictly addressee only’, and followed up on confidential interviews he gave to gardaí in 2000 about abuse he suffered in his childhood.
The letter arrived at his old address in Co. Kerry. He still owns that property and the letter was received by him without being opened by anybody else but he pointed to the risk of a similar letter going to an out-of-date address or being opened by a third party.
The letter offered Mr Flynn the opportunity of a meeting in Celbridge, Co. Kildare – a journey of about 300km, or four hours by car – on a date about two weeks after the letter was sent. The letter requested he meet with two female social workers to discuss the experiences of all those years ago.
Mr Flynn says some fellow victims still suffer from trauma caused by the religious congregations. Some have alcohol and drug dependency or psychiatric problems. Others have never told their families that they were in industrial schools.
‘In some instances these men are in a bad state,’ he said. ‘Their family members can open their post. Many have moved on from addresses that would have been on Garda files,’ he says.
Mr Flynn said the manner in which the letters were dispatched represented ‘reckless disregard for us’. ‘This is the most difficult, the most sensitive the most traumatic issue for an adult to deal with – sexual abuse,’ he said.
The revelations come following the news that Tusla’s conduct in the Sgt McCabe scandal will be investigated by a tribunal.
In its first year after it was established in 2014, the Child and Family Agency Tusla received 18,676 referrals of child abuse. This fell slightly to 18,235 referrals in 2015.
However, the numbers for last year are expected to be higher after Tusla disclosed it received 14,174 referrals of child abuse in the first nine months of 2016.
Speaking about the letter he received, Mr Flynn said: ‘This information went to people [Tusla] who are not sworn under oath, people who are not officers of the court. People who we know have been proved to create erroneous files.’
The letter informs Mr Flynn that he made allegations against a named person in 2000. The writer, who identifies herself, says that Tusla is tasked with assessing the ‘reliablility and accuracy’ of allegations it receives. The letter goes on to say that the allegations made by Mr Flynn ‘give rise to a concern that [name deleted] may potentially pose a risk to a child or children now or in the future.’
The letter then lays out nine steps that the agency wants to take, and asking Mr Flynn to locate ‘any other person… who may offer corroboration of your allegations’.
It also outlines future actions by Tusla, including contacting the alleged perpetrator and putting the allegations to him, and asking him to attend a meeting with Tusla staff where they will be asked to respond to the allegations.
A further step says that after interviews with the alleged perpetrator, officials will make a ‘provisional decision’ whether Mr Flynn’s allegations are founded. The letter discusses avenues open to the alleged perpetrator to pursue.
Mr Flynn had given evidence to gardaí investigating sexual and physical abuse at industrial schools at Letterfrack, Co. Galway; Artane in Dublin, and Daingean, Co. Offaly. He was a victim of abuse by Christian Brothers at these reformatories. The statements were given to male gardaí under sworn commitment that they would be kept confidential.
At least two Christian Brothers were convicted on his corroborating evidence though he was not required to appear in court.
The man mentioned in this letter was not convicted. The alleged perpetrator, who later left the religious order, now lives in Dublin with his wife and family.
Many of the other cases against Christian Brothers did not result in convictions.
In 2002 the government signed a deal to share responsibility and cover the cost. The Church agreed to pay €128m towards the cost. This week it emerged that the Church had paid just 13% of a total bill that came to €1.5bn.
This weekend, Mr Flynn said: ‘Tusla has, in one fell swoop, put us all back into isolation and it has put us in this situation where our trauma and our lives don’t matter.’
Tusla wrote to him on more than one occasion. ‘I haven’t responded to Tusla,’ he said. ‘I’m deeply concerned about responding to Tusla because I don’t want to initiate a situation where Tusla are going to be giving my information, my file and my history to who I believe is a vile perpetrator,’ he said.
‘Family members could open these letters’ ‘Our trauma and our lives don’t matter’
‘I feel very unprotected,’ he said. ‘What would concern me is that I work with people who have experienced similar abuse. They are gravely concerned that similar situations will arise with their files.’
Tusla, in replying to the Irish Mail on Sunday, would not reveal how many of these Garda statements came into its possession. Nor would it say how many victims of child abuse in industrial schools it haswritten to in the last year.
In a statement the agency said: ‘Tusla has an obligation to complete assessments of all allegations of abuse of children. This includes following up with victims to establish if any children may currently be at risk and we then follow up with the person against whom the allegation has been made, in line with Tusla’s Policy and Procedures for Responding to Allegations of Child Abuse and Neglect.’
Tusla explained the information had come from An Garda Síochána in ‘an inter-agency approach… to ensure that children in need of support receive a timely, appropriate and proportionate response’.
The Garda Press Office said ‘information is only provided for the purpose of assisting Tusla in its statutory function in protecting the welfare of children… All information is provided on a confidential basis and on the understanding it is for child protection purposes only.’