Last night.
Prime Time on RTÉ One.
Details were revealed of a document sent to members of Inner City Helping Homeless (ICCH) which details four serious allegations of abuse made against the former CEO and Dublin City Councillor, Anthony Flynn (above), who died in August.
Via RTÉ:
Written by David Hall, the former chairman of the charity, the document outlines a series of allegations of sexual abuse that were being investigated by Gardaí earlier this year.
The first two incidents occurred in May.
“One involved a 21-year-old male (classified by Gardai as extremely vulnerable) in May 2021 being brought by taxi at 2.30am to the CEO’s home where [he] stayed the night,” the report says.
“[He] presented to an adult emergency department the following day and was transferred to the sexual assault unit. [He] made an allegation to the Gardai when [he] arrived at the Sexual Assault Unit. The Gardaí believed the ICHH taxi account was used.”
Less than two weeks later, a separate alleged incident of a similar nature involving a different man was also reported to Gardaí.
“13 days later a party related to an ICHH Client was collected by taxi and brought to the CEO’s home. That night or the next morning an allegation was made to Gardai of sexual assault.”
A third alleged victim reported to the charity on August 26th that he had been sexually assaulted by Mr Flynn, though a date for the alleged attack is not given.
The man, who was homeless, had been “accommodated by the CEO in accommodation provided by ICHH,” the report states.
“While being accommodated by ICHH the CEO sent texts asking this person for sex. It was alleged the CEO sexually assaulted this person,” the report states. It was also alleged Mr Flynn “transferred a specific amount of money to this person to buy cocaine,” it said.
The document, which was obtained by Prime Time, also states that Gardaí told Mr Hall that its investigation went further again.
“Gardai indicated they had met with some men, who were known to Gardai, where taxis had collected them and Gardai were working through 97 taxi journeys. These journeys had been paid for by the charity.”
A total of four alleged survivors are referenced in the report.
Watch back here
Allegations made against former CEO of homeless charity (RTÉ)
Late charity chief allegedly assaulted men for whom he secured housing, report says (Irish Times)
Meanwhile…
It’s been quite the education recently to see some of Irish Twitter’s most righteous folks, all of whom tweeted #ibelieveher, suddenly decide there are two sides to abuse allegations when the alleged rapist is one of their own and the alleged victims are only homeless men. #rtept
— Donal O’Keeffe (@Donal_OKeeffe) September 23, 2021
Meanwhile…
In April this year Anthony Flynn spoke to me about a report he was launching on life in the homeless sector, and how a number of clients complained about being sexually abused in the system. The following month, he was a accused of sexually abusing clients in the system. https://t.co/gNtbm5NKfT
— Alison O’Reilly (@o_wireless) September 24, 2021
Nice work Donal, using something like this to score twitter points.
It’s like a sort of statement that can’t be validated in any way, right?
But does it have even a grain of truth in it, perhaps?
The late Anthony, RIP, was a frequent contributor to this site if memory serves me right.
It is sad to also see these allegations surface considering the great advocate he was for the downtrodden.
(I agree with you of course).
Would you be saying the same if he was a priest?
I hardly think his occupation or vocation has anything to do with it.
In retrospect it appears that in spite of his advocacy he may also have had a few human flaws.
Or did he use his advocacy as a means to exploit and abuse vulnerable men?
Being a rapist is not a human flaw.
Oh yes it is alleged that’s exactly what he did Daisy, but I disagree with you about the human flaw bit. But then it would not surprise me to discover you have an one-sided and not at all nuanced view of this topic as you do of almost every other one that you run your mouth off about on here. Like diarrhoea. Or more accurately, like calf skitter.
Your pal was a rapist who preyed on the vulnerable because he reckoned nobody would believe them. If you need to take your anger out on me for being duped by your pal to make you feel better, by all means do so.
A flaw is a little thing like biting your nails. Raping vulnerable men is not a flaw.
Occupation is often a lot to do with abuse. A position of power, access to charity funds – in this case a Taxi account – the trust of those aided by the charity and the vulnerable people who could be easily lured. Sounds predatory.
On the contrary, he makes an excellent point bravely.
He’s using an awful situation, where the most vulnerable people in our society are speaking up about serious sexual assault (and by someone in such a position of power too), for a ‘gotcha’ moment, which matters only to people who take twitter more seriously than real life.
He read about this developing story, and his take had nothing to do with the homeless men who were taken advantage of but taking a shot at ‘Irish twitter’s most righteous folks’, dressed up as outrage.
I don’t think he’s taking a stand on anything, bravely or otherwise. The fact that he’s conflating people who used the #ibelieveher hashtag with people attempting to defend or justify this in some way is very telling.
Perfectly put, Millie.
Bet the people lining the streets are having their crying game moment after attending the funeral of one of Ireland’s most prolific rapists
Never trust Irish charities.
I hope you never need their services so.
We need the services of the Catholic Church from time to time. Doesn’t mean we trust them. Institutional corruption, rape and abuse permeates through the generations in Ireland, and charitable organisations are famous for it.
Sounds like another Jimmy Savile
it was mad seeing people get shouted down who said anything about this. Seemed that the attitude was to give him a free pass because he’s dead now.
If death absolves one of crimes alleged before a verdict in a trial, that absolves the likes of Fr Sean Fortune, Mossie O’Sullivan and Sean Hawe too.
I honestly don’t know why Flynn is getting the benefit of the doubt from some quarters.
+ 1
Is he?
Death doesn’t absolve one of crimes committed.
I understand that the board of ICHH has engaged Remy Farrell SC to write a report on the matter. Meanwhile ex-Chairman David Hall, who quickly resigned in the aftermath gets to control the narrative.
How would your narrative differ from ICHH’s
I’d be awaiting the SC’s report commissioned by the board not the one prepared by the now-resigned Chairman.
Rape is rape even if his pals on the board say he was sound out before the misappropriation of funds and don’t forget the raping he did
I fully agree.
However, my point is not about Flynn nor the ICHH board but about David Hall.
Those 4 men are very brave to come forward, I shudder to think what the real numbers are for this kind of abuse across the board.
You wonder when you see the 80 taxi trips that they are investigating. Shame on anyone who defended him without a thought to the victims.
Who defended him?
Hundreds of people on twitter.
Who? Can I have some names please tom2?
What is shocking about this is the fact homeless people are not considered “vulnerable” mandating Garda vetting for all those who work in the area. One’s own eyes are all one needs to see the extent of their vulnerability particularly among the young homeless.
+1
Wrong link to RTE PT, Bodge.
Should be:
https://www.rte.ie/player/series/prime-time/SI0000000825?epguid=IH000400770
Thanks, Free Lunch, fixed now.