Probe is last chance to get to the truth

Probe is last chance to get to the truth

27 February 2013

IT’S the best chance of being heard. That’s the view of Sam Adair, victim of notorious peadophile Father Brendan Smyth, on the state inquiry into historical institutional child abuse in Northern Ireland which was announced this week.

The Newcastle man suffered a horrific series of sexual and physical assaults as a child in Belfast’s Nazareth Lodge and later at Rubane House in Kircubbin, which was run by the De La Salle Christian Brothers. In recent years he has been a campaigning voice across Ireland, demanding justice for the vulnerable residents of these institutions, also inspiring a number of local victims to come forward and tell their story to the Down Recorder back in 2010.

Chaired by Sir Anthony Hart, the inquiry will initially investigate 35 residential facilities.

“Rubane House and Nazareth Lodge will be among those investigated,” Sam confirmed. “It is the last chance. Victims are without excuse.

“People can come forward and tell their story, and it is up to them whether to take part in the inquiry or not.

“I have already been myself, there’s no pressure, it’s very relaxed. You have a cup of coffee and a chat. It felt quite good to do.”

How the public spotlight should shine on Northern Ireland’s victims, following high-profile investigations on the subject in the Republic, has been a subject of disagreement among victims to date. Sam said that from his point of view the set-up of the inquiry was not perfect, but that it was the best they were going to get.

“It won’t cover for instance when priests went into schools and abused children,” he said. “This inquiry has the power to issue subpoenas, however.”

Sam admits that in his sights is Cardinal Sean Brady, who recently came under pressure to resign after a BBC documentary highlighted his role in a church inquiry into Brendan Smyth in 1975. Although Cardinal Brady passed information on to his church superiors, he did not tell the police or parents of children abused by Smyth.

“A lot of children were abused after 1975, including me,” said Sam. “He could have put a stop to him.”

Following his campaigning in the Down Recorder, Sam estimates up to 120 victims living in the Down area have made contact with him, in person or through his website catholicabusesurvivorsni.com

“There are a lot from the Downpatrick area,” he said.

And while not denying anyone else’s right to damages, for Sam it has always been about being believed. When asked if Northern Ireland’s victims should receive some sort of compensation, as is being proposed by the Irish government following the inquiry into the Magdalene laundries, he is philosophical.

“A lot of the children of the Magdalene women are lawyers, doctors, psychiatrists, and living in America,” he said. “That is the difference.”

Sam says some of his bitterness has gone from the days when the likes of the late Brother Florence, formerly Joseph Scally, had a case against him ped at Downpatrick Crown Court due to the delay in bringing the case to court. Several cases involving Rubane House were also settled out of court.

“You cannot control the world, all of these things happened,” he said. “I just feel for the people.

“One young fellow [who lives locally] was raped and abused by priests and left in the gutter. He’s an alcoholic now. People do not see it, what he has been through.

“A lot of people who spent time in these institutions live locally. Some of them settled in the Down area like me. I’m in Newcastle, for instance, — it’s where I remembered being taken on those trips out of the homes.

“I really hope these people will come forward now to the inquiry. We need to get this over and closed and this is their chance.”

Sam Adair can be contacted via email on catholicabusesurvivorsni.com