Colm O'Gorman

Colm O'Gorman (born 1966) is an Irish victim of clergy sexual abuse, from County Wexford, who first came to public attention by speaking out against those involved. He subsequently founded 'One in Four', an Irish charity that supports women and men who have experienced sexual abuse and/or sexual violence. He is also a former director of that organisation. He was also a member of the 22nd Seanad Éireann, representing the Progressive Democrats, one of the smaller Irish political parties. He is currently the Executive Director of Amnesty International in Ireland. He is openly gay.

Early and private life

Colm O'Gorman was born in County Wexford. His father was Seán O’Gorman, of Adamstown, County Wexford — a farmer, builder and local Fianna Fáil politician. Seán O’Gorman was a member of Wexford County Council, and later moved with his family, including Colm, to live in Wexford town. Seán O’Gorman was an unsuccessful Fianna Fáil General Election candidate on two separate occasions — 1969 and 1973.

In 2002, Colm O'Gorman settled near Gorey, Co. Wexford. Later he moved to a house close to Courtown, where he lives with his partner, Paul Fyffe. The two also raise two children, whom they have joint legal guardianship of, and who live with them.

Child sexual abuse and the Roman Catholic Church

As an adolescent in County Wexford — between the age of 15 and 18 — O'Gorman was sexually abused by Friar Seán Fortune. The abuse occurred between 1981 and 1983. He became the first of Fortune's many victims to come forward and report the assaults to the Irish Police. In 1998, he initiated a lawsuit against the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns and the Dublin Papal Nuncio, who later claimed diplomatic immunity. His case against the Catholic Diocese of Ferns was settled in 2003 with an admission of negligence and the payment of damages — in April 2003, O'Gorman was awarded €300,000 damages. O'Gorman documented his lawsuit in the BBC documentary Suing the Pope.

He successfully campaigned for the establishment of the Ferns Inquiry, the first Irish State inquiry into clerical sexual abuse. He founded the highly respected charity One in Four in London in 1999 and established its sister organisation in Ireland in 2002. He is a well-known figure in Irish media as an advocate of those who have been victims of child sexual abuse and a commentator and campaigner on the issue of sexual violence. He was named one of the ESB/Rehab People of the Year and received a TV3/Daily Star "Best of Irish" award in 2002, one of the Sunday Independent/Irish Nationwide People of the Year in 2003 and in the same year he was also awarded the James Larkin Justice Award by the Irish Labour Party for his contribution to social justice in Ireland.

In 2006 O'Gorman filmed Sex Crimes and the Vatican for the BBC Panorama documentary series, which claimed that the Vatican has used Crimen sollicitationis secret document to silence allegations of sexual abuse by priests and also claimed that Crimen sollicitationis was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI.

Political career

In April 2006, he announced that he would stand for the Progressive Democrats in the 2007 general election in his native county of Wexford. On 3 May 2007, he was appointed to the Senate by the Taoiseach to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Kate Walsh.

He was not elected in the 2007 general election in Wexford polling three percent of the vote despite the national swing against the party and running in a constituency with no history of electing a Progressive Democrat TD. He polled slightly higher than the national average of 2.7 percent. Compared to other Progressive Democrat Senators he polled much more favourably, reaching the highest number of first preference votes in the 2007 election.

He was not re-appointed to the 23rd Seanad in July 2007.

References

External links

• One In Four official site
• Apology and settlement from the Church