A Society as Sick as its Secrets

Traditional republicans want Gerry Adams to resign because of his
role in protecting a brother whom he believes guilty of raping his
daughter. Why they ask, isn't he being officially charged for his role in
covering up of the alleged crime, that he himself believes happened?


Ireland is still coming to terms with the fact that all of the State's
apparatus, politicians, police, health services, media, shielded
paedophile priests from investigation, systemically for decades. Now,
the man once seen as a leader of a liberation war in Ireland, stands
accused of the same crime as the bishops who resigned, for failing to
to protect children from sexual abuse. It's a very serious charge that
could finish his political career, in a country where the Irish
Republican Army has shot suspected child abusers in the past.

Ireland has again been outraged by the revelations that Gerry Adams
knew of the sexual abuse complaints against his brother for 22 years
but like the priests shifted him from parish to parish, Adams brother
moved from republican area to republican area and the parents in
those areas are angriest of all. Yet Adams shrugs off calls for his
resignation, in the same way Catholic Church leaders evaded criticism
on the paedophilia issue for decades, while still posturing with
lordly authority in the process.

What has now happened, is that it's not just Adams or his decisions
that are being questioned but it's the underlying ethos of Sinn Fein
itself, as the perception was cultivated over decades that the two are
the same thing. The scandal shows the extent to which child abusers
and their accomplices have been allowed to essentially ignore the law,
and raises real questions about any sort of genuine democracy in
Ireland at all and what kind of culture facilitated such crimes.

Whether Adams resigns or not is still not clear. What is already clear
though, is that he should be prosecuted as an accomplice in his
brother's alleged crimes. Martin McGuinness's role in all of this,
needs to be questioned too. It's inconceivable that he was not aware
of all of this in a close knit community.

Generally the Irish media, in its reluctance to ask the tough
questions or consider the reasons for the prevalence of paedophilia in
Ireland, is again repeating its willingness, post the 60 million Euro
inquiry, to shelter and cover up paedophilia. All of the enablers,
politicians, police, newsroom editors, health officials are once again
creating a safe haven for child sexual abuse, if not a breeding ground
for it in Ireland.Until accomplices and enablers to this horrific
crime are imprisoned, the brutal abuse will go on.

When it is understood that the crime of child abuse, is a sexual
compulsion which, like all compulsions as in drug addiction, it
follows a recurring pattern, with the need for child rape building up
again after each offence, it doesn't matter how sorry the offender is.
Part of the addiction for sexual child predators is the illegal nature
of their desire. The child rapist, addiction is a thrill of
committing the crime in an atmosphere of the forbidden? Thus without
organized action the pattern of abuse will continue as surely as night
follows day.

The proper questions are not being asked by mainstream Irish media
reports on the scandal. In fact, in the L'Adamsgate affair a few short
weeks after the publication of the report, they are not being asked at
all. Neither is it just a question of lazy journalism, more like
career journalism of not stepping on the toes of the establishment.
Whatever the reasons, there is no mystery about what Gerry Adams did
and did not do in Belfast, in response to charges against Liam Adams.
I honestly don't understand why Gerry Adams hasn't been charged as an
accomplice to crimes he himself mantains happened.

Even looked at in the most charitable light, Adam's actions have been
callous. How can he, or any official who has covered up allegations of
abuse, be said to have demonstrated any concern for the children ? His
mealy-mouthed statements of regret show no awareness that he should
have shown responsibility towards children in Dundalk. There is no
reason to think that Adams showed any more concern for the children in
West Belfast or Dundalk than did the bishops who evaded
responsibility. What a philosophy for a liberation politician?

Has the media or the politicians recognized the necessity of new laws
in the wake of the report ? Other than the blasphemy Law enacted this
year, which further protects the church, nothing. Indeed many would
argue that were the blasphemy laws in place, the Catholic Church would
have been totally protected against the original complaints of child
sex abuse. So the extraordinary privilege the church and politicians
enjoy with regard to pedophilia, still exists.

What's been oddest about the Adam's case is Sinn Fein itself, doesn't
seem to recognize the utter depravity and brutality of the crime. The
question now is, do his prosecutor colleagues of the six occupied
counties, have the guts to put Adams on trial, instead of bowing and
scraping to him to keep his community quiet with McGuinness's help?

There is widespread national support, among traditional republicans to
report evidence of child abuse to the appropriate authority which
includes republicans in times of liberation wars. How is it that for
so long, Adams has escaped this and been allowed to make his own rules
for dealing with his paedophile brother ?. In the wake of a damning
report that has disgraced Ireland worldwide the authorities have to
demonstrate that they are willing to act on officials who cover up, no
matter how high up they are..

A political party or its president that believes in the human
sacrifice of Irish children for its own ends should not be allowed to
carry out that policy. An elected official that has sacrificed the
spirits of children to protect a public image has to suffer the
consequences. It's time for everyone involved to do their jobs and
finally take responsibility. Prosecute both the Adams brothers NOW and
demand truthful answers immediately from deputy first minister
McGuinness.