By Andy Spearman
There has been much talk lately about whether or not to strip the former leader of the Christian Brothers in Ireland, Edmund Garvey, of the freedom of Drogheda because of the abuses, sexual and physical, perpetrated by members of that order on young people in their charge going back decades.
There can be no excuse for leaving the matter lie. If they are to retain any credibility whatsoever, our current Councillors must put right the mistakes of their forbears and rescind the honour bestowed on Mr. Garvey as outlined in Councillor Maeve Yore’s motion (see below).
I was in secondary school in Dublin and Drogheda in the late sixties and it was well known then that boys in Christian Brothers Schools were being abused both physically and sexually.
We kids knew it, our parents knew it, the clergy knew it and the Gardaí must certainly have also been well aware of what was going on.
So why in God’s name was nothing done about it and how the hell did Edmund Garvey, the leader of an organisation which has the audacity to use the word “Christian” in its name, get proposed for the highest honour that this town can bestow on a citizen?
Garvey may not have abused young boys himself but as head of the Christian Brothers order he must accept responsibility for the actions of those errant members who inflicted pain and suffering on their students which has blighted their whole lives.
Why the members of Drogheda Corporation agreed to add the name of anyone connected to such a discredited organisation to the roll of honour alongside such people as Pope John Paul II, TK Whitaker, Charles Stewart Parnell and Eamon De Valera is a mystery.
To leave Garvey’s name on the roll of honour cheapens it and would constitute a continuing insult to the victims of abuse and also the many worthy people who have neen honoured over the years.
For the head of the so-called Christian Brothers to adopt a legal strategy that makes it next to impossible for the victims of their abuse to take legal action to claim the damages that should be theirs as of right is repugnant and at the very least contrary to Christian teaching.
Instead of being punished for their repugnant behaviour, the cowardly and perverted aggressors have been protected by their employers. Instead of being reported to the legal authorities they have been sheltered behind a wall of red tape.
It is important on so many levels that our present-day Councillors vote to strip Garvey of the freedom of Drogheda. To make the award in the first place was a huge error of judgement not only because it belittles the award and other recipients, but because it was a major insult to the survivors of the abuse meted out to them when they were innocent children.
Of course, it is not too late either for Mr. Garvey to hand back the honour that was bestowed on him in 1997 at the behest of the then Mayor Malachy Godfrey seconded by Cllr. Tommy Murphy, all he has to do is to contact the Council and ask that his name be erased from the freedom book.
It seems though that the matter will proceed to a vote by Councillors at tomorrow’s Borough meeting.
By all accounts this will be a close-run thing but there can be no excuse for letting Garvey retain his honour, there is simply no principled argument for it and any Councillor who argues in favour is doing the people of Drogheda a great disservice.
Bad enough that he was honoured in the first place but letting the status quo stand on this matter will only bring further shame on the Council.
Cllr Yore’s motion reads as follows: “That Louth County Council supports all victims of child sexual abuse and condemns the current litigation strategy chosen by the Christian Brother order, as illustrated on RTE Prime Time 7 February 2023.
“Furthermore, that this council writes to the Christian Brother leadership team, condemning this litigation strategy.
“Furthermore that this Council calls upon our members in the Borough District of Drogheda to rescind the Freedom of Drogheda bestowed on the former leader of the Christian Brothers, Edmund Garvey.”
