Hard Times: Johnny Potter, Cloondahamper; A Life In Focus

This week, singer/ songwriter Harorah Cinders published, on YouTube, her song – “Johnny We’ll Remember You”. A powerful goosebump-inducing tune and lyrics. I’ve always been a fan of Hanorah’s work, and her ability to convert true historical events into song. When I’d finished conducting my research into the life of Johnny Potter, I reached out to her, hoping she might be interested in writing a song about him. She didn’t disappoint! You can listen to her production here:

In light of her production, I thought I’d pen this blog to explain, with the aid of historical documents, just who Mr Potter was, and what type of things he witnessed in his life.

Johnny Potter was born in 1843 to Arthur Potter (1798 – 1875) and Catherine Potter nee Kelly (1807 – 1887). He was born in a one-roomed thatched cottage in the townland of Cloondahamper. He had three sisters and one brother: Mrs Ellen Collins (Imanemore), Mrs Jane Rabbitte (Cloonboo – Jimmeen Rabbitte’s wife), Mrs Bridie Nestor (Corskeaghmore) and Edward ‘Ned’ Potter (Cloondahamper).

The house in which Johnny was born still stands in Cloondahamper. It is no longer thatched, but roofed with galvanize and used as a shed for cattle – it is located in Cleary’s yard.

Above: Johnny Potter’s home.

When Johnny was two years old the potato famine hit Ireland. It began to end in 1850, when Johnny was seven years of age. What happened his family during that time remains unknown, as the church records and civil death records don’t go back that far in these parts.

Johnny’s life, spanning from the famine all the way into the 1920’s was so utterly tragic, that it warrants songs and poems to be written about it – and I am glad that this has been done. I intend here to construct a time-line of what we know, through records, about the old man who, one hundred years ago from today, leaned against a gate in this village, smoking a pipe and contemplating his life.

1843: Johnny Potter is born.

1846: As Johnny celebrates his 3rd birthday the talk of the day is that the authorities in Galway have run out of money, food prices are soaring and the government have denied a request from Galway for Indian Maize and a loan.

1847: The worst year of the famine sees roughly 2,700 people die, mostly from starvation, in workhouses each week. Johnny turns four years of age.

1851 – 1855: Less than a mile from Johnny’s home, some thirteen families, consisting of a total of seventy people, are evicted from their homes in the townland of Lisnaminnaun / Kidsfort.

1862: Johnny’s sister Jane Potter marries Jimmeen Rabbitte from Cloonboo, in Killererin Church, and moves in with the Rabbitte family.

1867: In Killererin Church, Johnny’s sister Bridie marries Tom Nestor from Corskeaghmore and moves in with the Nestor family.

1871: 2nd February, Killererin Church, Johnny’s brother Ned Potter marries their next-door neighbour Margaret Long and builds a house at a right angle to Johnny and his parents’ house in Cloondahamper.

1871: 22nd March, Cloondahamper, Johnny is recorded as ‘present at death’ for his neighbour, 70 year old widower, Tom Burke, who died from a debility from which he had suffered for nine months. There was no medical attendant present at the time of death.

1874: 1st September, Johnny’s brother Ned (who lives right beside Johnny) buries his son Patrick Potter, who died aged three months, having sufferred from convulsions for two days. There was no medical attendant present at the time of death.

1875: Killererin Church – Johnny’s sister Ellen Potter marries James Collins from Immanemore and moves in with the Collins family in that village. This leaves 32-year-old Johnny living in the house alone with his ageing parents Arthur and Catherine.

1875: 24th November, Immanemore, Johnny’s father Arthur Potter (who has been staying with his daughter Mrs Collins in Immanemore) dies at the age of 77 years from a debility which he has had for eight months. There is no medical attendant at the death and the death certificate is witnessed by Arthur’s son-in-law James Collins. Arthur was born the same year as the rebellion – 1798.

1879: 27th May, Clonberne Church, Johnny Potter, aged 36, marries Mary Hughes from Skregg, Kilkerrin. Mary moves in with Johnny and his mother Catherine in Cloondahamper.

1879: August 21st, Knock, Co Mayo, during a regional famine less than 20 miles from Johnny Potter’s home, a number of individuals report that they’ve witnessed an apparition of the Blessed Virgin, the Lamb of God, St John the Evangelist, St Joseph and a host of angels at the gable wall of a rural church.

1880 – 1890: Johnny and his wife Mary Potter have a total of eight children throughout the 1880’s and into the early 1890’s, all born at home in Cloondahamper, registered in Tuam and baptised in Killererin Church.

1887: 19th March, Johnny’s mother Catherine Potter, farmer’s widow, dies aged 80 from old age, without a medical attendant. Johnny is present at her death and is recorded as such on her death certificate.

1887: 2nd June, Cloondahamper, less than three months after the death of his mother, Johnny’s son Arthur (named after Johnny’s late father) dies aged 2 from Croup, without a medical attendant.

1894: October 24th, Johnny’s 11-year-old daughter Mary dies from Pulmonary Congestion. Johnny is recorded as ‘present at death’ by the registrar. Two days later Johnny is recorded as ‘present at death’ also for his neighbour 20-year-old John Hawd.

1895: 15th April, Cloondahamer, less than a year after the death of Mary, Johnny’s other daughter Nora / Honor, succumbs to Whooping Cough, aged just over one year.

1895: 9th July, less than three months after loosing Nora, another daughter of Johnny’s, Katie, dies aged 14. Johnny is recorded as present at her death in Cloondahamper.

1895 – 1897: Construction is completed on Cloondahamper National School.

1901: Cloondahamper, the census records Johnny and Mary Potter as living in Cloondahamper, with their two daughters Brigid aged 14 and Maggie aged 8. Their third daughter Ellen is living with her aunt Mrs Nestor in Corskeaghmore.

1902: Cloondahamper, death of Johnny’s daughter Ellen Potter aged 16 from Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Ellen had been living with her aunt Bridie Nestor nee Potter in Corskeaghmore, but moved back to Cloondahamper shortly before her death. Johnny is recorded as ‘present’ at her death.

1911: Cloondahamper, the census records John Potter and his wife Mary and daughters Brigid aged 23 and Maggie aged 18 as living in Cloondahamper. John and Mary declare in the census that they have been married for 32 years, that they had eight children, two of whom were still living.

1912: 27th June, Johnny’s daughter, Brigid Potter dies aged 24 from fever in Tuam Workhouse.

1914: June 5th, Cloondahamper, Johnny’s wife Mary Potter nee Hughes dies aged 64 from inflamed kidneys. This leaves John aged 71 living with his only surviving daughter Maggie aged 21. World War I begins a month later.

1915: Killererin Church, Johnny’s only surviving daughter Maggie Potter marries Tommy Collins from Clonberne. Tommy Collins moves into Potter’s house.

1916: 23rd April, Cloondahamper, Johnny’s first grandchild Mary Collins is born. Mary is named after her grandmother, Johnny’s late wife Mary Potter nee Hughes. Mary is born the day before the 1916 Easter Rising.

1917: 13th April, Cloondahamper, Johnny’s second granddaughter is born – named Maggie Collins, after her mother.

1918: May 3rd, Cloondahamper, Johnny’s third granddaughter Brigid Collins is born, named after her aunt, Johnny’s daughter Brigid Potter who had died just six years previously. A twin boy is born on the same day as Brigid, according to the family, but died at birth.

1918: May, Cloondahamper. Tragically, after giving birth to her third child, Maggie Collins, nee Potter dies at the age of 25 years.

1918: May, Cloondahamper: Johnny Potter, aged 75, famine survivor, has now outlived his wife and all eight of his children. He is living with his widower son-in-law, Tommy Collins, and three granddaughters Mary aged 2, Maggie aged 1 and baby Brigid.

1919: Cloondahamper, John’s brother Ned Potter dies aged 86.

1920: 4th September, Moylough Church: Just two years after his wife Maggie’s death, Tommy Collins marries for a second time – to Bridget Hoban from Cloonascragh. Tommy brings his new wife into Johnny Potter’s home. It is understood that children from the first marriage (Mary, Margaret and Brigid) are sent away to live with relatives. Two sons John and Frank Collins are born from the second marriage in 1922 and 1924, respectively. None of the people now occupying the home of 77-year-old Johnny Potter are of any blood relation to him.

1922: Boston, USA, Johnny’s niece Margaret Potter, alludes to the sadness of Maggie’s death in a letter to her mother (Margaret Potter nee Long) in Cloondahamper. “Poor Maggie, and I’m sure you all miss her”, she writes.

1923: October 10th, Cloondahamper: Bridie Miskell (grandmother of this author) is born in Cloondahamper.

1923: Cloondahamper, two days after Christmas, Johnny’s niece Margaret Potter, who has returned to visit from the USA dies aged 37 from pneumonia. She left, in Cloondahamper, a suitcase filled with postcards and letters which she had received while in the USA.

1924: 3rd September: Cloondahamper, Johnny Potter dies at the age of 81 years and is buried in Killererin Cemetery next to his wife and eight children. No medical attendant is present at his death, and his death is notified by his son-in-law, Tommy Collins, who subsequently inherited all of Mr Potter’s property.

Johnny’s name has not been forgotten in Cloondahamper – Mrs Delia Nolan nee Burke passed his story down to her son James Nolan (RIP 2021), who in turn passed it to me.

There is nobody alive today who remembers Johnny Potter, but my grandmother’s sister Julia McDermott nee Miskell, who died only last year aged nearly 100 years, had a vague recollection of the old man, with a beard, who smoked his pipe leaning against the gate into Cleary’s field. This image features in Hanorah’s song.

Johnny’s only grandchildren – Bridget, Margaret and Mary lived relatively long lives. Bridget was a Mrs O’Brien in Kilkerrin, and she has many descendants, as has Margaret (Mrs Bane), who live in the locality. Mary never married. The names ‘Maggie’ and ‘John’ have carried down in the descendants right to the present day. They say that there is no greater pain imaginable than that of a parent who has buried a child. How must Johnny have felt as his eighth and final child was carried in a coffin up Killererin Hill all those years ago?

Eternal rest grant unto them, oh Lord.

Who The Heck Is Alice?

Anyone who has spent time with me, worked with me, or chatted to me over the past few months is likely to have heard me lament about the ‘Alice Case’. I thought I’d write this blog to explain, in detail, who exactly ‘Alice’ is.

There are certain professions where it is deemed unhealthy to bring one’s work home with them. Mine is one such profession – I work for a TD in the Dáil. I do bring work home with me because for me it isn’t work – it is a vocation – a passion. Frankly, for me, the issues I come across on a daily basis are too important to be left on a desk at 5pm. If I have the power to help people, then I feel a moral obligation to do so regardless of what day of the week it is, or what time of day it is.

I have returned home, in the past few months, to complete my degree in University of Galway. I am still working for the same TD, but at reduced hours. When I reflect on my time working in the Dáil, one case stands out, one individual who rang my landline looking for help. An individual who I tried, but failed, to help. This person is ‘Alice’.

At this point I must caution that this blog will be long. It will be complicated and it will discuss topics pertaining to child abuse. For those who would rather not read on such a topic, I suggest you stop reading here. For those who have the stomach for this – you are going to be shocked by what you read.

I am penning these words – between lectures – in the hopes that I can articulate this complex case in such a concise way so as to trigger some political interest in this situation, beyond that of the TD I work for, or the political party of which I am a member. Every TD and Senator in this country has been made aware of this case, and yet, as far as I can see, Deputy Peadar Tóibín is the only one taking it seriously or doing anything about it.

The story of the child ‘Alice’ is horrific – the State’s refusal to remove her from a foster home where she was being abused, despite their knowledge of this abuse is a scandal of enormous proportions. However, a scandal of equal measure is the State’s reaction to the disclosures and their active persecution of Alice in adulthood when she tried to blow the whistle on her case. I would strongly encourage you to read to the bottom of this article in order to get an understanding of the full gravity of what has happened here. This is not a ‘Systems’ Failure’, or a ‘Victim slipping through the cracks’. No, this is a case where Gardaí and child protection officials went out of their way to punish a survivor of child abuse in a manner so utterly evil and cruel that it can scarcely be believed.

“But he who shall harm one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!“

– Jesus Christ

Let me start by outlining a rough timeline of events. ‘Alice’ is a pseudonym which Tusla ascribed to a woman who contacted them in recent years requesting an internal review of her case and the time she spent in foster care in this State. Tusla produced the ‘Alice Report’ in 2020, and Alice has furnished me with a copy of this harrowing document.

Alice was born in this country in the 1970s. She and her siblings lived in horrific conditions from the get go, where they were frequently beaten and raped by their mother’s partner. The children came to the attention of the local Social Work Department in December 1985. The issues of concern at that time were in relation to the deterioration of Alice’s mother’s health, financial issues and the mother’s “dependency on her older children in maintaining the home and caring for their half siblings”. Case records, unearthed by TUSLA as part of the Alice review (2020), dating to this period also note the Social Work Department’s concerns for the relationship the older children had with their mother’s partner, the father of the younger children. 

The children were subsequently taken into care following a house fire and in October 1987 an allegation of sexual abuse was made by Alice’s sister against her mother’s partner. The disclosure, the report says, was “validated in a hospital report dated October 1987”. The author of this hospital report, from a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Dublin, concluded that the children were “at great risk”, and recommended that the children be met with as part of the validation process. 

The TUSLA review, however, states that the records they examined “provide no evidence to verify that this recommendation was followed through” and that there was no evidence of follow-up with the Gardaí in relation to the alleged perpetrator of the abuse. 

In 1987 Alice and her siblings were placed in foster care. It was here that the children faced even further physical, emotional and sexual abuse. As part of the review, TUSLA have discovered an ‘undated letter’ from Alice’s birth mother, in which she stated that Alice had been “beated on the head” by the foster carers. Again, in relation to these allegations the review team could not find information to “verify if these had been followed up and/ or investigated with Mrs B (birth mother), the foster carers or any of the children identified”. We know this letter has to have been written by Alice’s birth mother some time between 1987 (when the children were taken into care) and 1989 (when the birth mother died).

In January of 1989 Alice’s birth mother died after suffering a brain hemorrhage. The review states that “the reviewers did not locate any information on case files to demonstrate how the children were supported with this experience”.  When I asked Alice how she learned of her mother’s death she told me that she was at Mass in the local church, with the foster family, when she heard her mother’s name read out by the priest as ‘recently deceased’. This was the manner in which she and her siblings learned of their mother’s death.

Throughout 1990 Alice reported feeling unhappy to her social workers, and the case files note her concerns that she was being treated differently than the foster family’s own children. They also show that the foster mother was complaining to social workers about Alice’s behaviour. 

Despite these concerns, and the birth mother’s allegations prior to her death, Alice continued to reside with the foster family until March 1992. At this point Alice ran away to live with an older half sibling. She was 16 years of age, and left her placement without the consent of foster carers, the district court or the local Health Board. In effect, she ran away.

In February 1995 an older sibling wrote to the social worker expressing concerns that one of her half siblings (who was then still in care – with the same family) was being subjected to physical abuse by the foster family and was being questioned by the family “after each social work visit”. It was at this point that additional allegations of physical abuse were made by another of Alice’s younger siblings, ‘Ms H’, while separately Alice and a third sibling made further allegations of physical and emotional abuse against the same foster carers. 

It would be two months before the children were removed from the foster placement. 

Tusla’s review team could not locate evidence on the case files that the allegations of physical abuse were reported to the Gardaí.

At a case conference in March of 1995 a recommendation was made that all other foster children who were previously placed with the family – a total of sixteen children – should be interviewed by the social work department. However the review could not verify that such interviews were conducted.

Eventually in April 1995, at least six years after Alice’s birth mother made allegations that the children were being abused, the Social Work Department confronted the foster parents with the allegations. The abuse was confirmed and the remaining two children in the foster placement were formally removed. The period of time which social workers allowed to elapse between the allegation being made and the children being removed from care was somewhere between six and eight years.

It would, however, be almost a year before a decision would be reached in March 1996 that the foster family in question should no longer be considered or used as approved foster carers. 

Throughout the 1990’s the children began to speak and make multiple allegations regarding the time they had spent in the care of the foster family. In 1998 Alice’s sibling ‘Ms H’ made allegations of sexual abuse naming the biological son of the foster family as her abuser. 

The Tusla report found that at a case conference in 1999 a further recommendation was made that the Social Work Department should meet with all sixteen of the children who had been in the care of the family. Again, the reviewers could not locate evidence that this recommendation was followed up or completed. However, the review states that Alice’s sister had made a statement to the Gardaí and that the alleged perpetrator had been interviewed by Gardaí, that he had admitted the sexual abuse, that a file had been sent to the DPP and that the DPP decided not to prosecute. 

In recent months Alice’s sister, ‘Ms H’ contacted the Gardaí, in light of the Alice Report, to seek copies of her files under GDPR. The Garda Data Protection Unit responded to Ms H’s request by email stating that “it does not appear that the incident (reported in 1999) was forwarded to the DPP”. 

This statement obviously stands in direct contradiction to the statement in the Tusla report which suggested that the DPP had decided not to prosecute.

In a previous letter dated 12th April 2022 the Data Protection Unit had confirmed to Ms H that a PULSE file was logged on the matter dated to September 1999 but that they couldn’t find any written statements made about the offences and that “there is no suspected offender named nor is there any detail logged”. 

We have raised these discrepancies in the Dáil on many occasions – asking the Minister where the documents are and who raided the contents of the Pulse file.

We have not received answers to our questions.

The story of Alice and her siblings was aired on RTE’s Morning Ireland in July of this year, and you can listen back to it here:

A quest for justice by one family following abuse they suffered in foster care.
Thanks to Ms H & Alice for their patience and trust over the last six months. Two wonderful people.
⚠️Report relates to child sexual abuse. https://t.co/3GDjavig8R

— Ailbhe Conneely (@AilbheConneely) July 11, 2022

On July 25th 2022 I accompanied Alice and her partner to a meeting with the Minister for Children, Roderic O’Gorman, during which he apologised to Alice in his capacity as Minister.

The Minister for Children and Equality has held a meeting with Alice, a survivor of severe abuse while she was a child in foster care

Alice was accompanied by Aontú spokesperson on Children and Equality, Luke Silke. https://t.co/sRLQrYwsiv

— Peadar Tóibín (@Toibin1) July 25, 2022

Alleged Perpetrator Still Involved In Underage Sports Club

In recent times I have been contacted by an individual who shared proof with me that Alice and Ms H’s alleged abuser is now involved in an underage sporting organisation. I am intentionally not specifying the particular role this individual has within the organisation because I do not wish to identify him – but you may take my word for it that this role would involve regular contact with young people.

Presumably the alleged abuser had to be Garda vetted before he was appointed to this role and presumably the Gardaí would have cleared him given that the pulse file does not contain his name, or his victim’s statement, or indeed his own confession to sexual abuse.

This is, I think you’ll agree, an extremely serious matter. Given the gravity of this situation I decided to make a protected disclosure to both the Department of Children and Department of Justice. When I failed to get a response we opted to raise this matter again in the Dáil on 15th December 2022. A junior Minister at the Department of Justice told Deputy Tóibín he couldn’t comment on specific cases, and in the same reply implied that we were being too vague and that we should have been more specific…

RTE’s Social Affairs Correspondent covered this Dáil exchange:

Peadar Tóbín said he had no choice but to raise questions because he said the Dept of Justice had not investigated disclosures made by his office relating to interpretation of the Protected Disclosures Act https://t.co/kHrxxfBYzo

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 15, 2022

Smear Campaign, Lies and Cruel Silencing Tactics:

This case, thus far, stinks of cover-up or conspiracy. We have a Garda pulse file, but the contents of it are missing. We have the Child and Family Agency saying that the abuser of Alice’s sister confessed to abuse, and that a file was sent to the DPP, but that the DPP had decided not to prosecute, and on the other hand we have the Gardaí saying that no file was ever sent to the DPP.

I’m afraid these issues are but the tip of the iceberg.

Alice, as I said previously, ran away from the foster home where she was being abused. She left the home with £10, in the 1990s, bought a bus ticket and walked into a nursing home looking for a job, at the age of sixteen. She built her life on that ten pound note. Despite her trauma from her time in care, Alice remains a very strong and driven character. She has been fearless in her pursuit of justice for herself and her siblings. Alice is a mother herself, she has resisted the State’s attempts to take her children from her and has raised them well. Her children are adults now and are doing well for themselves. Alice has a fantastic sense of humour and she has also spent hours studying the law and the regulations and has consequently become an expert in the submission of Freedom of Information Requests.

Throughout her campaign for justice, Alice has retained all copies of correspondence pertaining to her case, and has meticulously recorded absolutely everything. She has supplied me with all of this documentation and I can confirm that every word you’re about to hear is the truth.

Throughout the past three decades Alice made a number of disclosures of abuse to social workers and Gardaí. As I’ve outlined, nobody has ever been prosecuted, and no investigation was ever conducted into the allegations for years. I’ve also seen proof, as I’ve said, that one of the alleged perpetrators of the sexual abuse, whom TUSLA say has confessed to the abuse, is not being caught by the Garda vetting system when applies for roles which bring him in contact with minors. This appears to be because all the documents, including the victim’s statement and the alleged perpetrator’s confession, are missing from Alice and Ms H’s pulse file.

I am aware that I am using complex terms here and referencing technology used by Gardaí. Let me simplify it… Imagine it this way – Alice’s sister asked Gardaí for a copy of documents relating to her decades’ old report of abuse. Imagine the Gardaí got back to her and said “we’ve found an envelope in our achieves, across which is written ‘all the documents relating to alleged sexual abuse of Alice’s sister’, but the envelope is empty”.

In recent years Alice triggered an police ombudsman (GSOC) investigation into the Garda station which failed to act upon her disclosures decades ago. The ombudsman did not rule in Alice’s favour. Alice has since discovered, under Freedom of Information that during the course of that investigation, the same Garda station (the one under investigation) wrote to the local county council to falsely inform them that Alice had a conviction record (which she does not). They shared this false information and fictional account of the crime, with the council at a time when Alice was applying to the same council for a council house. This occurred in the middle of the GSOC investigation into the Garda station. This action by Gardaí presumably had a negative impact on Alice’s housing application. Alice remains on the housing waiting list, seven years later, she has not yet been offered a house.

When Alice discovered the email exchange under Freedom of Information she raised the matter with the Gardaí, who in turn confirmed that she does not have a conviction and apologised to her for the email which they said was sent in ‘error’. The matter was reported on the front page of the Irish Examiner in July last year.

Gardaí wrongly told local authority that child abuse survivor had conviction when applying for housing assistance https://t.co/kRbx0djaOu

— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) July 15, 2022

I shall leave it to the reader’s judgment as to whether or not this was an innocent ‘error’.

That’s not the end of it.

There are two social workers from Alice’s past, who failed to report her abuse to the Gardaí and who failed to act on her disclosures at the time. For the sake of this article I’m going to refer to these social workers as ‘Mary’ and ‘Margaret’. These are not their real names.

Audio Files Removed From Tusla Offices:

Mary is since retired. In the aftermath of Tusla’s review into Alice’s case (2020), they discovered that certain audio files, which feature Alice making her disclosures to Mary, were stored in Mary’s attic for years (despite her having retired, and despite Alice not having knowledge that she had been recorded). Tusla do not seem to be taking this data breach seriously. The files were not discovered until after Tusla had produced the Alice report.

Social Worker Married to GSOC Officer:

‘Margaret’, the second social worker who failed to act on Alice’s disclosures years ago, is still employed by the State – the HSE – and works in the area of Mental Health. ‘Margaret’ is married to a GSOC officer. I have been unable to determine if the fact that one of the social workers (who failed to act on Alice’s past disclosures) is married to a GSOC officer had any bearing on the outcome of the GSOC / Ombudsman investigation into the handling of Alice’s disclosures…

In recent years, after Tusla investigated Alice’s case, Alice was referred for support with her Mental Health. When she attended the recommended facility she discovered that ‘Margaret’ was working there. Alice naturally was very distressed by this discovery. It is hard to comprehend just how difficult it must be to sit in front of a suspicious looking psychologist or psychiatrist with a notebook in his hand, and try to explain to him that the social worker who wronged you in your youth, or who failed to report your allegations of child abuse, is sitting in the next room drinking tea. Was it a coincidence that Alice was referred back to a facility where she would have to come face to face with the social worker from her past?

Alice wants a full and proper State Apology from the Taoiseach on the record of the Dáil for herself and her siblings. She also want a Commission of Investigation into the State’s handling of child abuse allegations, particularly ones which relate to children in care, past and present. The Grace Case was subject to the Farrelly Commission of Investigation, but that investigation is only focused on one foster home. We have examined child abuse in every other setting – Mother and Baby Homes, Clerical Abuse, etc but we have neglected to investigate the rate of abuse within the fostering system in the past.

The Alice Case is not unique. I have been contacted, since it broke in the media, by many other victims of abuse which they experienced while in foster care. The parallels between these cases are deeply worrying. What happened here? We either had a State which, in complete contradiction to the #MeToo movement, said loudly and clearly “We do not believe you” to each of these children. There is also, however, something more sinister at play here. I would argue that Alice and her family have not been ‘failed’ by the State, they have in fact been actively persecuted by the State. The State knew they were being abused, but allowed the abuse to continue.

When Alice came forward to seek an investigation into how her allegations were handled, she was met with resistance. The Gardaí refused to record her sister’s testimony, and the DPP refused to prosecute the abusers. Social workers who wronged Alice were promoted within the HSE and Tusla. Nobody was ever prosecuted for what they did to Alice, and nobody who failed Alice was ever disciplined or dismissed from their roles within State organisations. When Alice triggered a GSOC investigation into the Garda handling of her case, the Gardaí invented false allegations of criminality against her, and shared this false information with the body to whom she was applying for a house.

When Alice asked Tusla to conduct a review of her case, she was referred for mental health assistance to the very social worker who wronged her in the past by failing to inform Gardaí of her allegations.

This is a scandal of enormous proportions. If you believe that Alice deserves a Commission of Investigation and a State Apology, please email the Taoiseach and Minister For Children and let them know of your views on this matter. webmaster@taoiseach.gov.ie and minister@equality.gov.ie 

(Below lyrics from Daniel O’Donnell’s version of “Who the Heck is Alice?” )

“Sally called when she got the word

She said “I suppose you’ve heard?”

“About Alice?”

Well, I rushed to the window and I looked outside.

I could hardly believe my eyes,

As a big limousine pulled slowly into Alice’s drive.

I don’t know why she’s leaving,

Or where she’s gonna go.

I guess she’s got her reasons,

But I just don’t want to know

For twenty-five years we’ve been living next door to Alice”