Scumbag priests are safe in our corrupt state

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

The last paragraph, which I have highlighted, is the crucial question.

Why aren’t the scumbags at the highest level of the vile Catholic Church, who have clearly perverted the course of justice, prosecuted?

The answer, as I wrote in a recent article, is simple.

Bishops, Cardinals and other senior priests are part of the ruling elite of our corrupt state and are therefore automatically immune from any kind of prosecution whatsoever.

Sir,

I am pleased to see that our Government is beginning to take seriously the unfriendly and aggressive activities of a foreign state on Irish soil.

The Government should make a statement to clarify that canon law is meaningless under Irish law. It has no bearing whatsoever on whether a person’s behaviour was legal or justified.

Referring to compliance with canon law is about as relevant as referring to a company handbook as justification for breaking the law of the land. What matters is Irish law, and no one should be under any illusion about the exclusivity of Irish law over human behaviour in this State.

It is important to note that the value in the proposed law will be that it will impose criminal liability on people who don’t report suspected abuse.

However, what has happened here and in other jurisdictions is that people have deliberately acted to hide crimes, by moving abusers around, and the like.

This is categorically different from simply not reporting, and it needs no new law to impose criminal liability.

Anyone who acts to pervert the course of justice can be prosecuted for doing so. The evidence that this was done on a wide scale is in the public domain.

For the life of me, I cannot see why people are not prosecuted for this.

Yours, etc.

Cormac MacGowan,
Minaun Crinnage,
Craughwell,
Co Galway.