This article is from page 12 of the 2012-05-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 12 JPG
programme.
Since the allegation the person who made the claim in the programme has not contacted any authorities nor the school in question, despite various attempts in South Africa to ask him to substantiate the allegation.
Indeed in the immediate aftermath of the allegation the Dillon family were pleased to note that a number of his former pupils made themselves avialable to refute any alleged stain on Brother Dillon’s character.
The family of the now deceased Clare Christian brother along with members of the clergy have maintained that as the documentary was discredited it must be investigated in its entirety, including the allegations against Brother Dillon.
At an Oireachtas Joint Committee meeting on Communications last week, Labour Deputy Michael McNamara told RTÉ Chairman Tom Savage and Director General Noel Curran that the whole programme appears to have been flawed.
He said that the investigation into the Fr Reynolds segment occurred because a defamation case had been successfully taken but the dead cannot bring defamation cases.
It is understood however that RTÉ has already conducted its own internal inquire into this element of the documentary.
“The programme has been utterly thrashed, the programme team has been pretty thrashed, rightly or wrongly, maybe they are carrying the can for others, maybe not,” said Deputy McNamara.
“Why not have an independent inquiry even outside the remit of the BAI (Broadcasting Authority of Ireland)?
“Why not bring in Anna Carragher or somebody else of that stature to carry out an investigation into the allegations made against somebody who is dead?” he asked.
Deputy McNamara said he hoped that RTÉ would reflect on the situation over the next few days.
“The whole programme is now tainted and natural justice requires that the allegations against the late Brother Dillon be investigated by an independent competent authority. Brother Dillon’s family are entitled to this,” he added.
The issue is expected to come before the Oireachtais committee again today (Tuesday).