Jarvey for Garvey - Village Magazine

PB July-August 2023 July-August 2023 35

rother Edmund Garvey, 73, was

given the Freedom of Drogheda,

where he had been born, in 1997

when he was head of the Christian

Brothers. He went out of his way

on that occasion to apologise for hurtful

experiences people suered because of the

order, or in its schools.

However, in the last few years he chose not

to act as nominee for the Brothers for the

purpose of a High Court action for abuse,

taken against the Brothers in 2019. Though

certainly that is his legal right, it meant that

the more than 100 living members of the order

at the time of the alleged abuse had to be

made defendants in the case, six of whom live

abroad, if the traumatised plainti wanted to

sue the Brothers, a tall order. The High Court

ordered judgment in default against 29 of

them on 20 June.

Damian O’Farrell is an independent Dublin

Councillor from Clontarf and a survivor of the

widespread abuse perpetrated by the

Brothers. He obtained the ﬁrst ever criminal

conviction against a Christian Brother, in

1998. Farrellwrote to Councillors in Louth last

October asking them to rescind the freedom.

Alleged victims hired a hotel in the town and

asked Councillor to talk to them but only ﬁve

of 29 turned up.

Independent Louth councillor Maeve Yore

has attempted to have the following motion

tabled in the Council on two occasions: “That

Louth County Council supports all victims of

child sexual abuse and condemns the current

litigation strategy chosen by the Christian

Brothers order...and this Council calls on our

members in the Borough District of Drogheda

to rescind the Freedom of Drogheda bestowed

on [Garvey]”.

A letter from the Council to Yore states:

“your most recent Motion will not be placed

on the agenda of council for May as it is

considered potentially defamatory and could

expose the council to litigation”. It’s about as

defamatory as a Bridget’s cross.

On 10 May the Council replied to Yore’s

solicitor, MacGuill and Company, conﬁrming

that it considered it was potentially

defamatory: “It could be interpreted as

making specific allegations against an

identiﬁable person which, if unsubstantiated,

could be injurious to the reputation of that

person”. It suggested the Councillor submit

alternative wording.

Yore is said to be contemplating a complaint

to the Standards in Public Oce Commission

though it is unlikely to ﬁnd ethics grounds on

what is essentially a procedural matter.

She is also looking at a legal route.

Section 140 of the Local Government Act

2001 states that “an elected council may by

resolution require any particular act, matter or

thing speciﬁcally mentioned in the resolution

and which the local authority or the [CEO]

concerned can lawfully do or eect, to be done

or eected in the performance of the executive

functions of the local authority”.

Louth County Council should pass a

resolution requiring its CEO, Joan Martin, to

put a resolution rescinding the Freedom

awarded to Brother Garvey which, whatever

the Council thinks, is non-defamatory, on the

‘Clár’ or order sheet for expeditious

Jarvey for Garvey

Drogheda and Louth Councils disgrace

themselves by ﬁnding spurious legal reasons

not to consider rescinding 1997 award of

Freedom of Drogneda to the former head of the

Christian Brothers who has been making life

difﬁcult for an abuse victim who is suing them

By Michael Smith

discussion. Though the Cathaoirleach took

legal advice that rescinding the Freedom is a

matter for Drogheda Borough Council, it is in

fact more appropriately dealt with by the full

Louth Council rather than the legally depleted

Drogheda Borough Council since, on 1 June

2014, the Borough Council was dissolved and

the administration of the town was

amalgamated withLouth County Council’s.

Brother Garvey has not behaved well and it

is entirely appropriate to call him to account,

or eject him from the honour he was, unwisely,

aorded by the Council in a slightly less

cynical era.

The CEO has already wasted enough of

Councillor Yore’s time and legal fees. The

Councillor might legitimately demand that if

the CEO does not comply with this resolution

and the law that she will hold the CEO and her

agents personally liable for the costs including

legal costs, pf her non-compliance.

More dicult for Councillor Yore will be

obtaining the necessary two-thirds majority

vote for her Section 140 Resolution. Without

the political support the legal action will not

be possible. However, the Mayor of Drogheda,

Michelle Hall, signalled last December that at

least nine of the ten Borough Councillors were

against bringing forward a motion to rescind

Brother Garvey’s Freedom. It is not clear why.

What is extraordinary is, apart from one

Sinn Féin County Councillor, the lack of

support from the mainstream political parties,

including the deﬁant Labour Party. locally or

from their national representatives, for an

attempt to undo a small part of the abuse that

most of them at least accept is real. It’s to be

hoped those parties will be held to account for

their heedlessness.

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