Working Class Action
Paedophiles among our children
by Cieran Perry
The on going scandals about child sex abuse by members of the priesthood have disgusted most right-minded people. In what appears to be a never-ending series of exposes the Church again and again emerges with little or no credit. Time and time again, the Church has had to be forced to admit its culpability in the abuse of children.
On each occasion the Church authorities have attempted to shield the abusers and put further children at risk by moving the perverts to another parish. Never have the Church authorities stood up and said "Yes, we were at fault and we’ll do everything in our power to root out the child molesters".
The self-serving attitude of the Church leaders is further exposed by their actions with covert financial support and housing for the child molesters when they are released from prison. A good example of this is the case of pervert priest Ivan Payne. This lowlife was found guilty of sexually abusing alter boys and sick children in a hospital under his care in Dublin. He was jailed for six years for sexual abuse against nine boys aged between 11 and 14. While in prison he refused to undergo treatment for his crimes and still he only served four years of the six-year sentence.
On his release the Church housed him in a luxury apartment costing 1600 a week and situated facing a crèche and children’s playground. Both the Church and the Police were aware of the whereabouts of Payne but obviously nobody in authority thought it necessary to inform the local community about the paedophile in their area, after all they are only working class kids at risk. An unrepentant paedophile housed by the Church, with the connivance of the Police and ultimately, the Minister for Justice, in an area mainly populated by working class children. This is an indication of the lack of respect those in authority hold for those who inhabit working class areas. Ironically, the only people who knew about Payne’s whereabouts were those who had for years refused to tackle the problem of pervert priests - the Church, the state and the police.
Local community activists from Working Class Action (WCA) discovered Payne’s whereabouts and leafleted the area door to door to inform the residents about the pervert’s presence. The WCA demanded that local communities be informed when sex offenders, especially paedophiles, are to be housed in their areas. If this wasn’t acceptable to the local community the perverts should not be housed in the area. The community's welfare comes before any rights that people who choose to molest children have. The fact that the WCA would dare to call for the local community to be informed about scumbags housed in their areas seems to have been unique because it made the headlines in two national newspapers, a couple of local papers and at least three national radio shows. Apparently, when the state wants to dump their filth somewhere, working class areas fit the bill perfectly.
Cieran Perry...22 January 2003
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