The McCoy Report is an eight-year (1999–2007) inquiry by Elizabeth Healy and Kevin McCoy into the
Brothers of Charity
The Brothers of Charity are an international religious institute of Religious Brothers and associate members at the service of the people most in need in the field of education and health care. The institute was founded in 1807 by Peter Joseph T ...
Order's "
Holy Family
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the first ...
School" in
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
, Ireland, and two other locations. The Report was published by the
Health Service Executive
The Health Service Executive (HSE) ( ga, Feidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte) is the publicly funded healthcare system in Ireland, responsible for the provision of health and personal social services. It came into operation on 1 January 2005 ...
in December 2007.
Abuse of disabled children over an extended period
The report, which was begun in 1999 and made public in December 2007, found that eleven brothers and seven other staff members were alleged to have abused 21
intellectually disabled
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability in the United Kingdom and formerly mental retardation,Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010). is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by signific ...
children in residential care in the period 1965–1998. By 2007, two members of staff were convicted of abuse, eight had died and the rest had retired. It emerged that the Order had attempted to transfer at least one accused brother to another place.
Vulnerable people let down by society
Jimmy Devins
James Devins (born 20 September 1948) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician and medical doctor. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 2002 to 2011.
Early and personal life
Devins is a medical doctor by profession, and worked as a GP in ...
, a junior government minister, regretted that "some of the most vulnerable people in society were let down in the past". Brother Noel Corcoran, head of the Order's services in Ireland, apologized. However the McCoy Report was criticized by Dr Margaret Kennedy for not naming the sex offenders who were convicted or dead, and for interviewing just 21 out of 135 complainants.
Special government committee
In 2010, Kennedy has also criticised the
Irish parliament's special committee to enquire into the McCoy Report for not challenging the Brothers who arranged the movements of abusers between Galway, Lota (near
Cork city
Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city' ...
) and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. Police collusion is suspected and "it seems no one was called to account".
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
4 January 2010, p.13.
See also
*
Sexual abuse scandal in Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora diocese
References
{{SACC
Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Ireland
Sexual abuse scandals in Catholic orders and societies
2007 in Ireland
2007 documents
2007 in Christianity