{"id":2068,"date":"2023-03-16T15:27:31","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T15:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/reports-findings-into-sexual-abuse-at-st-john-ambulance-are-devastating\/"},"modified":"2023-03-16T15:27:31","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T15:27:31","slug":"reports-findings-into-sexual-abuse-at-st-john-ambulance-are-devastating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/reports-findings-into-sexual-abuse-at-st-john-ambulance-are-devastating\/","title":{"rendered":"Report\u2019s findings into sexual abuse at St John Ambulance are devastating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Long-awaited report is a damning indictment of organisation\u2019s failure to protect children\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The findings of a report into child sexual abuse within St John Ambulance have been described as devastating by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on Children, said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDr Geoffey Shannon\u2019s report has been a long time coming and this is an eagerly awaited but highly emotional day for survivors such as Mick Finnegan. It is only through their perseverance and campaigning that the truth about this organisation\u2019s litany of failings can now be exposed for all to see.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe report will make for harrowing reading and is a damning indictment of the pervasive culture within St John Ambulance that seemingly put fear of litigation and the protection of its reputation before the welfare of innocent children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the serious nature of the historical abuse that occurred, it is staggering to learn that Dr Shannon\u2019s report also identifies gaps in the organisation\u2019s existing child protection policies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is clear that nothing less than complete root and branch reform of St John Ambulance is now required to ensure that proper child safeguarding procedures are put in place for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>March 16, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long-awaited report is a damning indictment of organisation\u2019s failure to protect children\u00a0 The findings of a report into child sexual abuse within St John Ambulance have been described as devastating by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. Deputy Whitmore, who is the party\u2019s spokesperson on Children, said: \u201cDr Geoffey Shannon\u2019s report has been a long time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[268,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jennifer-whitmore","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Report\u2019s findings into sexual abuse at St John Ambulance are devastating - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/reports-findings-into-sexual-abuse-at-st-john-ambulance-are-devastating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Report\u2019s findings into sexual abuse at St John Ambulance are devastating - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Long-awaited report is a damning indictment of organisation\u2019s failure to protect children\u00a0 The findings of a report into child sexual abuse within St John Ambulance have been described as devastating by Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore. 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