Child Abuse
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Richard Boyd Barrett (PBP), Dún Laoghaire

Stephen described to me in really emotive terms the sadistic abuse that he suffered as a nine-year-old boy and even earlier. He was savagely beaten, humiliated and stripped naked to such an extent that he fled school and never learned to read and write. He described in very emotional terms how he was never able to read bedtime stories to his children, how he imagined it was all his fault, and the shame he suffered all his life. He considered himself to be a dunce and stupid because they were the labels that were associated with him. He spoke of how his entire life was limited in terms of job opportunities. He could not admit that he could not read and write because he did not want to get into the reasons for that. He has only been able to come to terms with it and make a Garda complaint very recently. What he wants to know is when he will he get an acknowledgement and an apology from the State that allowed this to happen. When will he be able to tell his story? I note from what the Minister of State has said that the timeline for this sounds worryingly long. Stephen is in his 70s. Hopefully, he will be here for quite a while yet but people are getting old and they need to know they are going to have some opportunity to tell their story and get redress soon.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11