Madam, - On Monday, May 17th I received a phone query from a researcher for the Right Hook programme on Newstalk 106 radio. He explained that following on from a news report about the Magdalen homes, the station was preparing an item on whether or not the Church had been scapegoated on the issue of institutional abuse.
In her column of May 20th Mary Raftery wrongly claims I was asked for a spokesperson specifically about the case of a lady called Kathy, whose information on allegations of abuse had been passed on to the Garda and the health board by the Archdiocese of Dublin.
The researcher asked if I could help him with the names of people who might be able to contribute to a radio discussion on that broader issue of whether the Church had been scapegoated and if society in general had to accept a degree of responsibility.
I was not able to provide a spokesperson myself but gave the name of a university historian who has written on this issue. I also mentioned the group LOVE, which has given accounts of positive experiences some of their members had in religious-run institutions. I have contacted Newstalk 106 and they have confirmed the above to me.
Any suggestion by Ms Raftery that I was trying to represent an allegation which we had already reported to the relevant authorities as a false allegation is untrue, most unfair and misleading. - Yours, etc.,
Father DAMIAN McNEICE, Communications Officer, Archbishop's House, Dublin 9.
Mary Raftery writes: Unlike the Archdiocese of Dublin, I did participate in the radio programme mentioned above. The context was clear: namely the recent allegations of abuse made by the victim Kathy during her time in a number of Catholic Church-run institutions.
I am glad to see Father Damien McNeice confirm that he referred a journalist to LOVE, which, by its own description, campaigns on behalf of those falsely accused of child abuse.