Say’s Irish Cardinal Sean Brady
On Tuesday May 1st, 2012, the BBC “This World” series broadcast a programme entitled The Shame of the Catholic Church on the BBC Northern Ireland network. In the course of the programme a number of claims were made which overstate and seriously misrepresent my role in a Church Inquiry in 1975 into allegations against the Norbertine priest Fr Brendan Smyth.
In response to the programme I wish to draw attention to the following: Six weeks before broadcast (March 15th, 2012)
I drew the attention of the programme makers to a number of important facts related to the 1975 Church inquiry into Brendan Smyth, which the programme failed to report and which I now wish to restate for all other media who report on this matter:
To suggest, as the programme does, that I led the investigation of the 1975 Church Inquiry into allegations against Brendan Smyth is seriously misleading and untrue. I was asked by my then Bishop (Bishop Francis McKiernan of the Diocese of Kilmore) to assist others who were more senior to me in this Inquiry process on a one-off basis only;
The documentation of the interview with Brendan Boland, signed in his presence, clearly identifies me as the “notary” or “note taker”. Any suggestion that I was other than a “notary” in the process of recording evidence from Mr Boland is false and misleading;
I did not formulate the questions asked in the Inquiry process. I did not put these questions to Mr Boland. I simply recorded the answers that he gave;
Acting promptly and with the specific purpose of corroborating the evidence provided by Mr Boland, thereby strengthening the case against Brendan Smyth, I subsequently interviewed one of the children identified by Mr Boland who lived in my home diocese of Kilmore. That I conducted this interview on my own is already on the public record. This provided prompt corroboration of the evidence given by Mr Boland;
In 1975 no State or Church guidelines existed in the Republic of Ireland to assist those responding to an allegation of abuse against a minor. No training was given to priests, teachers, police officers or others who worked regularly with children about how to respond appropriately should such allegations be made;
Even according to the State guidelines in place in the Republic of Ireland today, the person who first receives and records the details of an allegation of child abuse in an organisation that works with children is not the person who has responsibility within that organisation for reporting the matter to the civil authorities. This responsibility belongs to the “Designated Person” appointed by the organisation and trained to assume that role. In 1975, I would not have been the “Designated Person” according to today’s guidelines…
I had absolutely no authority over Brendan Smyth. Even my Bishop had limited authority over him. The only people who had authority within the Church to stop Brendan Smyth from having contact with children were his Abbot in the Monastery in Kilnacrott and his Religious Superiors in the Norbertine Order…
. . . With others, I feel betrayed that those who had the authority in the Church to stop Brendan Smyth failed to act on the evidence I gave them. However, I also accept that I was part of an unhelpful culture of deference and silence in society, and the Church, which thankfully is now a thing of the past …
The programme made reference to a statement I made in the course of an RTÉ interview in which I suggested that if my failure to act on an allegation of abuse against a child led to further children being abused, that I would then consider resigning from my position.
The programme failed to point out, however, that I gave this answer in response to a question specifically about someone in a position of “Management”, someone who was already a Bishop or Religious Superior with ultimate responsibility for managing a priest against whom an allegation has been made. In 1975, I was not a Bishop. I was not in that role. It was misleading of the BBC programme to apply my response to the RTÉ interview on a completely different situation to my role in the 1975 Inquiry. It is my view that the “This World” programme has set out to deliberately exaggerate and misrepresent my role in these events…
I deeply regret that those with the authority and responsibility to deal appropriately with Brendan Smyth failed to do so, with tragic and painful consequences for those children he so cruelly abused. I also deeply regret that no guidelines from the State or the Church were available to guide the sincere and serious effort made to respond to the allegations made by the two boys interviewed in the Inquiry process … I fully support [the] new procedures which include the obligation to report such allegations promptly
Irish Tax Revenue intake down for April 2012 on same month last year
TAX REVENUES for Ireland in April were 1.3 per cent down on the same month last year at €2.08 billion, according to Department of Finance figures. This, however, was slightly better than expected on budget day.
Exchequer returns published yesterday show that, over the first four months of the year, tax revenues stood at €10.8 billion, up 12.4 per cent on the same period in 2011 and 3.5 per cent ahead of the budget day target.
Of note were the value added tax returns. At the beginning of the year, the standard rate of VAT was increased from 21 per cent to 23 per cent. There were fears that this increase could have been self-defeating, given already weak consumption.
These fears have thus far proved unfounded, as VAT revenues have exceeded the Governments expectations in the first four months.
Those expectations were, however, modest. The two percentage point rise in VAT was budgeted to generate an increase in revenue of just 1.4 per cent in the first third of the year.
Non-tax exchequer revenues, which are mostly accounted for by fees the banks pay for the State guarantee of their liabilities, stood at €710 million in the January-April period.
The exchequer revenue figures, combined with separate figures on the numbers of welfare claimants and the rate of unemployment in April, also published yesterday, suggest a weak but stable economy at the beginning of the second quarter of the year.
Exchequer spending was running 64 per cent ahead of revenues in the first four months of the year, standing at just under €19 billion.
There was a small increase in “voted” spending compared to the same period in 2011. On budget day, the Government had planned that, by this stage of the year, a small decrease would have been recorded.
Overspending in the two biggest budget departments – welfare and health – accounted for the missing of the targets. Most other departments spent less than planned, thus partially offsetting the overshooting welfare and health bills.
“Non-voted” spending, which is dominated by the servicing of the national debt, rose sharply. According to the Department of Finance, debt-servicing costs rose by €400 million between January and April 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
The deficit between spending and revenues in the first four months of the year stood at €7.1 billion, down from €9.9 billion in the same period of 2011.
The exchequer figures are prepared on a cash basis and can be subject to greater distortion than accruals-based figures.
The monthly exchequer figures also provide only a partial picture of public spending and revenue.
The more comprehensive general government accounts, which were published last week, showed that total revenue last year stood at €56 billion last year.
Exchequer revenues, which exclude social insurance contributions, among other revenue streams, stood at €34 billion in 2011.
A Derry man is shot in Co Donegal in a punishment style attack
A man has been shot in both arms and legs in a punishment-style attack in Co Donegal.
The attack happened at a rented house in Legnatraw, St Johnston, at about 10.45pm on Tuesday.
The man (39), who is originally from Derry, had been living in Co Donegal for a number of months. He was shot four times – once in each arm and each leg.
A woman (34) was in the house at the time but was not injured.
The victim was taken to Letterkenny General Hospital, where his condition is described as “stable and not life-threatening”. It is understood the attack was carried out by two armed and masked men.
A silver SUV was found abandoned a mile from the scene of the shooting, at Moness, and is being examined by Garda forensic experts.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Gardaí are liaising with the PSNI in Derry.
Supt Vincent O’Brien has appealed for anybody who was in the area between 10.30pm and 11pm to contact them with any information they may have.
Ireland’s Unemployment rate holds steady at 14.3%
The number of people signing on the Live Register increased by 100 in April, with the standardised unemployment rate holding steady at 14.3 per cent.
Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that, on a seasonally adjusted basis, 436,000 people were claiming jobseekers’ benefits and allowances in April, some 6,400 fewer than in the same month last year.
The data marked the first time that the number of people signing on has increased for five months, a fact Bloxham Stockbrokers economist Alan McQuaid described as disappointing.
“That said, there have been some positive job announcements on the foreign-direct investment side which provide grounds for optimism, and anecdotal evidence from recruitment agencies points to an increase in job opportunities.”
The number of long-term claimants – those in receipt of benefits for more than one year – increased by 8.6 per cent to 184,053 in the year to April. The number of women in the long-term category increased by 15.4 per cent (6,889) in that period, and the number of men rose by 6.2 per cent (7,744).
The data suggest that emigration is continuing among those aged under 25, with the number from this group claiming benefits falling by 0.3 per cent last month.
The number of people aged under 25 signing on has decreased every month since July 2010.
The percentage of those aged under 25 signing on the Live Register stood at 16.5 per cent at the end of April, down from 18.1 per cent a year earlier and 19.2 per cent in April 2010.
The number of casual and part-time workers claiming benefits has risen by 1.1 per cent since April of last year to 88,442, with the increase largely accounted for by male workers (4.7 per cent).
Foreign nationals accounted for 17.9 per cent (77,015) of the number on the Live Register, a small increase from the figure recorded one year earlier (17.6 per cent).
Small business group Isme said the headline Live Register figures did not reflect the true level of unemployment, which was being under-reported as people were emigrating and entering education and training programmes.
The Government, Isme said, had promised a lot on the jobs front but delivered little during its first year in office.
“They must first realise that a complete overhaul of our competitiveness is where the real work has to be done.”
Separately, European data show that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate across the euro area increased to 10.9 per cent in March.
Some 17.4 million in the euro area were unemployed in March 2012, an increase of 169,000 or just under 1 per cent on the previous month. Unemployment has risen by 1.7 million or 10 per cent since March of last year.
The lowest unemployment rates were recorded in Austria (4 per cent) and the Netherlands (5 per cent), with the highest rates in Spain (24.1 per cent) and Greece (21.7 per cent).
The unemployment rate among men in the euro area increased from 9.7 per cent to 10.8 per cent in the year to March; the rate among women increased from 10.2 per cent to 11.2 per cent.
Meanwhile in Europe:
Eurozone unemployment rises to record levels at 11% now
Unemployment in the eurozone has reached a record high, with 17.4 million people out of work across the single currency, according to the latest official figures.
That translates into an average unemployment rate across the euro-using countries of 10.9 per cent in March, up from 10.8 per cent in February.
But that headline rate, unveiled by Eurostat yesterday, disguises large divergences between member states.
The increase was driven by a sharp rise in unemployment in Spain where it rose from 23.8 per cent to 24.1 per cent. Italy, which has also fallen into recession, saw its unemployment rate rise from 9.6 per cent to 9.8 per cent.
Yet it is a very different picture in the eurozone’s largest economy, Germany, where the jobless rate was unchanged in March at 5.6 per cent.
There was more bad news for eurozone nations, with the latest survey of manufacturing purchasing managers across the single currency showing another decline from 47.7 in March to 45.9 in April. Any figure below 50 indicates a contraction in activity.
The European Central Bank (ECB) holds its monthly governing council meeting in Barcelona today. Though it is expected to keep interest rates on hold at 1 per cent, the press conference will be closely watched to see if the ECB president, Mario Draghi, signals any further monetary easing to come.
* Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s upgraded Greece to CCC yesterday. It said the move reflected the improved sustainability of Athens’ debts, after it restructured public borrowing in February by imposing an effective 55 per cent haircut on bondholders.
Lazy people and slackers brains ‘are wired to under-achieve’
People prepared to work hard for rewards had more of the nerve signalling chemical dopamine in two brain regions called the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex
LAZY people who prefer to live off others may have brains that are wired for under-achievement, a study suggests.
Scientists have identified neural pathways that appear to influence an individual’s willingness to work hard to earn money.
Scans showed differences between ”go-getters” and ”slackers” in three specific areas of the brain.
People prepared to work hard for rewards had more of the nerve signalling chemical dopamine in two brain regions called the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
Both are known to play an important role in behaviour-changing reward sensations and motivation.
But ”slackers”, who were less willing to work hard for reward, had higher dopamine levels in the anterior insula. This is a brain region involved in emotion and risk perception.
Dopamine is a ”neurotransmitter” that helps nerves ”talk” to each other by sending chemical signals across connection points called synapses.
Psychologist Michael Treadway, from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, US, who co-led the research, said: ”Past studies in rats have shown that dopamine is crucial for reward motivation. But this study provides new information about how dopamine determines individual differences in the behaviour of human reward-seekers.”
The findings are reported in the latest issue of the Journal of Neurosciences.
A total of 25 healthy volunteers took part in the research ranging in age from 18 to 29.
To determine their willingness to work for a monetary reward, participants were asked to perform a variety of button-pushing tasks.
An easy task earned one dollar (60p) while the reward for harder tasks ranged up to four dollars (£2.50).
After making their selection, volunteers were told they had a high, medium or low probability of getting a reward. Tasks lasted for about 30 seconds and participants had to perform them repeatedly for about 20 minutes.
Positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans, which monitor radioactive ”tracer” molecules in the brain, were used to measure dopamine activity.
For many, the term ”slacker” is personified by Jeff Bridges‘ character ”the Dude” in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski.
The new research suggests that Lebowski’s desire to remain unemployed and spend much of his time bowling could partly be down to brain chemistry.
Study leader Professor David Zald, also from Vanderbilt University, said: ”At this point, we don’t have any data proving that this 20-minute snippet of behaviour corresponds to an individual’s long-term achievement, but if it does measure a trait variable such as an individual’s willingness to expend effort to obtain long-term goals, it will be extremely valuable.”
The scientists say they were surprised by the role of dopamine in the anterior insula. It suggests that more dopamine in this brain region is associated with a reduced desire to work, even when it means earning less money. In the past, dopamine has always been linked to reward-driven behaviour.
The fact that dopamine has opposite effects in different brain regions complicates the picture for treatments of conditions such as attention-deficit disorder, depression and schizophrenia.
Prof Zald’s team is engaged in a larger project aimed at identifying objective measures for depression and other de-motivating psychological disorders.
”Right now our diagnoses for these disorders is often fuzzy and based on subjective self-report of symptoms,” he said.
”Imagine how valuable it would be if we had an objective test that could tell whether a patient was suffering from a deficit or abnormality in an underlying neural system. With objective measures we could treat the underlying conditions instead of the symptoms.”
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