RESPONSES TO "MURDER OF THE UNDEAD"; PATSY MCGARRY AND PATRICK WALSH
In May 2004 Paddy Doyle published an article of mine that included an earlier version of "Murder of the Undead: Patrick Walsh and the Irish Times" (on website www.paddydoyle.com.) This attracted responses from Patsy McGarry and later from Patrick Walsh (paragraph numbers (1) and (3) below respectively). My replies are numbered (2) and (4) below.
Of course my views are very different from those of Mr. McGarry and Mr. Walsh (and Paddy Doyle). However at least some kind of dialogue took place - even if it included threats of legal action! What usually happens in these cases is that serious allegations are made against the Catholic Church; a Church spokesman points out that there are glaring problems with the claims; this is followed by complete silence in the media. All that the public remembers are the initial allegations. This time I hope it will be different!
Rory Connor
11 January 2007
(1) REPLY BY PATSY McGARRY published on www.paddydoyle.com May 2004
Paddy,
I am well aware of Mr Connor and his assertions.
There was no allegation of murder at Artane in the 1999 article by me he refers to, as you will see from the Christian Brother's letter in response to that article,- as published in this newspaper. (The Irish Times)
You will also note the admission of error on my part, where relevant, and the playing with dates by the Christian Brothers.
He should know that 400 of the 1,700 allegations being investigated by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse emanate from Artane.
As regards the report of an apology to a bishop, reported by by predecessor, Mr Connor should know that it is illegal to repeat a libel, not least in a report for an apology of same.
I note Mr O'Connor makes no mention of the report from the (Laffoy) Commission last November into the Fisheries School at Baltimore, Co Cork, which was damning and is the only completed state report into religious-run insitution todate.
Further he conveniently ignores the efforts by me and others to highlight the matter of false allegations, a relevant but by no means overwhelming element in this complex scandal.
With Regards,
Patsy
(2) RORY CONNOR?S RESPONSE TO PATSY McGARRY
published on www.voicesemerge.org (formerly .com) May 2004
paddy@paddydoyle.com
pmcgarry@irish-times.ie
19 May 2004
Paddy
I read Patsy McGarry's reply with considerable interest. Most of my article (which I call The Reason Why) was written over a year ago and to some extent my feelings about Mr. McGarry have changed since then. However I did not change what I wrote in April 2003 for reasons I will explain.
Mr. McGarry is quite correct in stating that he has (in recent times) done a lot to highlight the matter of false allegations. I have read a number of the articles he wrote about Christian Brothers who have been falsely accused. I was particularily interested in one dated 18 October 2003 entitled "Reviving a Witch Hunt for Our Times". The article suggests that in Ireland today we are reliving the type of hysteria generated by the Salem witchcraft trials in Massachusetts in the 1690s. Mr. McGarry quotes from Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. The innocent but executed John Proctor asks "Is the accuser always holy now? Were they born this morning as clean as God's fingers? I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem. We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law".
This is well said. People who make bogus allegations of child abuse are being awarded "compensation" by the Redress Board. They are getting money even when an accused person is acquitted; they are being "compensated" even when the DPP decides that there is not enough evidence to send an accused person for trial. I myself have frequently used the analogy of the Salem witch hunts to describe the child abuse issue in Ireland today. So why do I still target Mr. McGarry?
The 1690s witch hunts ended when the chief girl accuser stood in front of the Salem congregation and apologised for her actions which she described as a "stratagem of Satan". She did not simply
A) Stop accusing people of being witches and
B) Speak out courageously on behalf of the falsely accused.
The people of Salem would not have seen that as enough. But that is what Patsy McGarry has done. He has made a 180 degree turn on this issue but he has not apologised. He has not even referred to his previous writings which contibuted to the witch hunt athmosphere.
His reply is a case in point. He says that there was no allegation of murder in the 1999 article I referred to. That is quibbling. Patsy McGarry's article in The Irish Times on 25 September 1999 consists of an interview with Patrick Walsh who "arrived at Artane in 1963" and whose " 'sentence of detention' would continue until his 16th birthday, September 25th 1969". The article contains the following paragraph:
"The man in charge of the infirmary would get extremely agitated when boys came in clutching their stomachs after being punched by Christian Brothers. He was afraid of appendicitis. Patrick recalled two funerals of boys who had been rushed to the Mater Hospital with 'acute appendicitis' ".[My emphasis]
It is true that the word "murder" is not used but how else are we supposed to interpret these allegations? The Christian Brothers had no doubt what was being suggested. The Province Leader Brother J. K. Mullan wrote to the Irish Times on 9 October:
"It is outrageous that an award winning journalist would include such extremely serious assertions in the Irish Times without even bothering to check the facts. The implication is that the boys who were beaten and seriously injured by the Brothers, were then dispatched to hospital where they died. The use of quotation marks around the words "acute appendicitis" seems to imply that the boys died from some other cause. The fact of the matter is that no boy resident of Artane died while Patrick Walsh was there". [My emphasis]
So how did the Irish Times answer this point? A brief note from the IT Editor was attached which stated inter alia, that:
"A procedural oversight occured as a result of which Mr. Walsh's allegations were not put to the Christian Brothers in advance of publication".
This "procedural oversight" is the only reason given by the Irish Times for printing false allegations of child killing (if you want to avoid using the term "murder)'!!
(Incidentally on 19 October 1999 the Irish Times printed a letter criticising Brother Mullan and supporting Patsy McGarry. The letter was written by M. Waters, Chair/Co-Ordinator of the UK group Survivors of Child Abuse. Mr. Waters proposed that the State should take over boys' medical files held by the Brothers; he gave no names of dead boys.)
A few years ago many of Patsy McGarry's colleagues were writing similar things and worse about the Christian Brothers. Most of them never changed their tune or at best they have just shut up. In contrast Mr. McGarry has started to defend those falsely accused of child abuse. In hindsight, I suppose it is a pity that it was his article in September 1999 that caused me to blow my top and start my present campaign. However that's the way it was.
Regards
Rory Connor
087 675 1169
(3) LETTER FROM PATRICK WALSH TO PADDY DOYLE (AND RORY CONNOR) 13 August 2004
Dear Mr. Connor,
Given the gravity of your allegations against Mr. Walsh I suggest you write to him immediately and apologise for the hurt caused to him. I've posted Mr. Walshe's email on my site in the text of your accusations.
Yours
Paddy Doyle
-----Original Message-----
From: Walshpage
Sent: 13 August 2004 16:20
To: paddy@paddydoyle.com
Subject: Rory O'Connor and your website
Dear Mr Doyle,
This is very serious. I refer to the publication on your website of 13th August 2004 of an entirely unfounded allegation by Mr Rory O'Connor that I was allegedly quoted by Patsy McGarry's in an Irish Times article on 25 September 1999, saying that I had "attended the funerals of boys killed by the Brothers in Artane"
The article of 25th September 1999 says nothing of the sort and I hold you along with Mr O'Connor entirely responsible for the publication of this outrageous libel which is highly injurious to my good name and reputation.
I note you have published a letter from Mr Patsy McGarry of The Irish Times who states "There was no allegation of murder at Artane in the 1999 article by me he refers to..."
I do not see what you expected to gain by publishing Mr O'Connor's unfounded assertions, but you ought to have known that allegations of alleged murder are the most serious sort and you might have given me an opportunity to respond prior to publication. In any event and for your own reasons you chose not to do so.
I am now instructing my Irish Solicitors to take whatever actions are possible against yourself as the publisher Mr Doyle.
Yours sincerely,
Patrick Walsh
125 Huddleston Road
London N7 0EH
England
(4) RORY CONNOR'S REPLY TO PATRICK WALSH (AND PADDY DOYLE) 14 August 2004
14 August 2004
Dear Paddy
I am on holidays at present. I just sent a quick reply but forgot to save it. This is the response I wish to use.
When Paddy Doyle published my article on his website in mid May 2004, he also published a reply from Patsy McGarry. I replied in turn to Mr.McGarry and the following is an extract.
"(Patsy McGarry) has not even referred to his previous writings which contributed to the witch hunt atmosphere.
His reply is a case in point. He says that there was no allegation of murder in the 1999 article I referred to. That is quibbling. Patsy McGarry's article in The Irish Times on 25 September 1999 consists of an interview with Patrick Walsh who "arrived at Artane in 1963" and whose " 'sentence of detention' would continue until his 16th birthday, September 25th 1969". The article contains the following paragraph:
"The man in charge of the infirmary would get extremely agitated when boys came in clutching their stomachs after being punched by Christian Brothers. He was afraid of appendicitis. Patrick recalled two funerals of boys who had been rushed to the Mater Hospital with 'acute appendicitis' ".[My emphasis]
It is true that the word "murder" is not used but how else are we supposed to interpret these allegations? The Christian Brothers had no doubt what was being suggested. The Province Leader Brother J. K. Mullan wrote to the Irish Times on 9 October:
"It is outrageous that an award winning journalist would include such extremely serious assertions in the Irish Times without even bothering to check the facts. The implication is that the boys who were beaten and seriously injured by the Brothers, were then dispatched to hospital where they died. The use of quotation marks around the words "acute appendicitis" seems to imply that the boys died from some other cause. The fact of the matter is that no boy resident of Artane died while Patrick Walsh was there". [My emphasis]
So how did the Irish Times answer this point? A brief note from the IT Editor was attached which stated inter alia, that:
"A procedural oversight occurred as a result of which Mr. Walsh's allegations were not put to the Christian Brothers in advance of publication".
This "procedural oversight" is the only reason given by the Irish Times for printing false allegations of child killing (if you want to avoid using the term "murder)'!!
(Incidentally on 19 October 1999 the Irish Times printed a letter criticising Brother Mullan and supporting Patsy McGarry. The letter was written by M. Waters, Chair/Co-Ordinator of the UK group Survivors of Child Abuse. Mr. Waters proposed that the State should take over boys' medical files held by the Brothers; he gave no names of dead boys.) "
My Comment today 14 August 2004. I quoted correctly from Patsy McGarry's article and I have no apology to make to Mr. Walsh. Let him name the boys whose funerals he said he attended.
Regards
Rory Connor
http://www.alliancesupport.org/news/archives/001634.html