Children First

Couple of interesting letters in the Irish Times today about mandatory reporting.  Doctors are suddenly discovering that they will have to report under age girls who approach them for contraception or with a pregnancy.  Of course they won't in practise and the Government will find some way to explain it all away - oh yes, Children First - that ought to do it.  It's a great line, isn't it.  If a 14 year old girl wants the Pill we must give it because we must put children first.  But if she then goes to confession and tells the priest, he must rush off to the guards and tell them.  And here's the funny bit - tell the HSE - who gave her the Pill in the first place! 

The other letter is more general, about how old hags will use the process to destroy innocent people.  They're below:

Sir, – Much ink has been spilt in recent weeks as to whether or not the seal of confession ought to be broken in a case where an ephebophile or paedophile confesses to abusing a child.

Little consideration has been given to the problem of a general practitioner like myself, where an underage girl presents for treatment in pregnancy.

If there is mandatory reporting, will I have to report this case to the Garda? Or if an underage girl seeks the morning-after pill or pregnancy counselling, will the doctor or pharmacist or counseller have to report a crime? Whether or not the girl has consented, it is a case of statutory rape, ie child sex abuse. In such a case, there is absolutely no doubt but that a crime has been committed. And it is by no means a rare occurrence. –
Yours, etc,

Dr JOHN KEHOE,
Chestnut Hill,
Naas,
Co Kildare.

Sir, – While clerical sexual abuse is particularly shocking, it is relatively a very small part of the problem. With regard to the substantive issue of compulsory reporting, apart from the obvious consideration that, rather than actually protecting children, it would effectively bury social workers under an avalanche of largely useless information, it seems to me the church authorities, caught on the back foot, in fact have conceded too much. We may well be sleepwalking into a totalitarian nightmare, where anyone with a grudge or a notion can ruin anyone they object to, and they will be considered guilty until proven innocent. And I suppose once again the church will eventually be accused of failing to stand up to totalitarianism! – Yours, etc,

JOE ASTON,
Horseshoe Cottage,
Sherkin Island,
Skibbereen,
Co Cork.