From top: Anthony Flynn; Oonagh Smyth and ‘John’
Last night.
On RTÉ One’s Prime Time.
John, not his real name, told reporter Oonagh Smyth (top) that he was raped by the late CEO of Inner City Helping Homeless Anthony Flynn.
John’s identity was protected and his words were spoken by an actor. Before John told his story, Ms Smyth explained that many people across Dublin don’t believe him or the three other people who have claimed they were assaulted by Mr Flynn.
She reported that the situation has led to negative commentary towards the survivors and, in one case, one man had to be moved from their homeless accommodation.
John told the programme that he first approached Mr Flynn when he was facing eviction. At the time he had just lost his job, before the pandemic, and was in significant arrears.
He told Prime Time:
“I was in a bad way when I met Anthony. I was in a bad state after losing my job. I was on antidepressants. I was vulnerable. I wasn’t myself at the time. When I contacted him, I thought he was a saviour. I thought he was a person who was going to help me out, like. I actually sent him a message on Facebook messenger and explained my situation at the time. He told me, ‘I’ll meet ya’.
“So I asked him, like, ‘can I come to your office?’. He said, ‘no, no, no, I’ll send you a message after work’. Yeah, that’s when he sent me a message and told me I should go to his house and that he was going to send me a taxi from my home to his place which he did send me a taxi that night.
“And I went straight to his house. And then he offered me a drink. And then, I just don’t know what happened after the drink. I woke up in the middle of the night as well and he came over and yeah, he did what he did when I was there, still when I was alert, it just happened all night.
“That first night, he sexually molested me.”
Ms Smyth told the programme:
“John says he was held against his will at Anthony’s home over two nights. He says he felt the effect of a drug and was out of it. On the second night, he alleges he and another man were assaulted.”
John continued:
“He just raped me that night again, with the young guy as well who was there and we were locked there again, me and that young guy. He did hit me and I remember he did hit me. In the end I just became submissive and did whatever he wanted me to do.”
Ms Smyth reported that John returned to Mr Flynn’s home two more times – once when he was sexually assaulted again and another time when Mr Flynn took his phone from him.
She added:
“Asked what made him return, John says it was a combination of desperation and fear. Yet the effects of the assaults were profound.”
John said:
“Since then I ended up in a bad situation myself. My mental health, I just had a mental breakdown. I remember I stayed in my house for nearly three months and I never came out. I just stayed in the dark, switched off the lights, pulled down the blinds. It’s something I’m still struggling with you know.”
Ms Smyth reported that John said Mr Flynn told him he knew “numerous” gardai and felt that if he reported what happened, he would not be believed.
But John reported what happened weeks after Mr Flynn’s death by suicide in August.
John said:
“It’s a fear of people knowing it’s me; that was the biggest fear until now. Even when I went to do the statement, that time with the guards, it took me a lot of courage, a lot of courage to go there. I remember when I walked out of Store Street Garda Station, I looked around me, to see if anyone had seen me going in there.”
John has tried to take his life twice. He told the programme:
“I just crashed, I swear to God. Yeah, it’s just the fear. I don’t know what is going to happen, like.”
“My motive [to speaking out now] is kind of hoping to help other victims out there get the courage and also it’s about creating awareness about what happened. The biggest thing for myself is getting the support from it all as well because my mental health is not that great. It crashes on a daily basis, that’s the main thing.”
In regards to negative comments about John and the other three people who have come forward, John said:
“There is no understanding because they knew Anthony in a different way. I don’t blame them because that’s not what they knew. Anthony portrayed himself as a saviour or a fighter for the deprived in this society, I saw the dark side.”
Watch back in full here.
Previously: Dissolution
Meanwhile…
Shocking claims about Anthony Flynn hitting, entrapping and raping a man “for hours” on Prime Time right now. And yet weeks before these allegations were made Anthony Flynn launched a report highlighting sexual abuse within the homeless sector. #primetime https://t.co/XiroIOkRjx
— Alison O’Reilly (@o_wireless) September 30, 2021
Stomach churning stuff.
But the fact Flynn killed himself rather than defend himself and the fact that there were a few accusers does tend to indicate that John’s testimony is certainly plausible?
We might have had his side if he hadn’t felt the need to take his own life.
I think the upshot here is that the entire charity industry in this country is given way too much credence and state support (for very cynical reasons as well) and we need to look at providing proper services rather than leaving it in the hands of poorly regulated and run charity ‘entrepreneurs’ who seem to make out like bandits from the suffering of others.
plus how much does a CEO of a charity earn !
God knows, it certainly always appears to be 6 figures though, not sure in this case though – look at Angelo Kerins and that other ghoul Frank Flannery who was also involved in Rehab. They don’t seem to be the sort of people who were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, but maybe they were and the exorbitant salaries, expenses and perks were just a minor consideration for them?
I’d tend to think otherwise.
What I do know though is that when my mother had cancer (which she subsequently died from) the Irish Cancer Society had plenty of toxic positivity (Be Strong! Have a good PMA [positive mental attitude] Fight this!!!), mealy mouthed words but not much else in the way of actual assistance. She called a helpline and was basically brushed off, she was terrified so when I see their money making rackets it makes my blood boil.
So not entirely sure what the point of them is really outside of a continuance of their existence and ‘awareness campaigns’ because without them how would any of us ever know about cancer? FFS.
“what the point of them is..”
A hive for deviants.
I’ve heard the same thing about the ICS from multiple sources. If anyone has a positive story about them, I’d like to hear it.
Totally agree re regulation. Where are all these charities getting their money from to warrant some ridiculous salaries? SIPO and the Charities “Regulator” are effectively toothless creatures and seemingly incapable of getting to the sources of funding. Some of these “religious” outfits are the notoriously opaque re funding. Where does the Iona “Institute” or Youth Defence get it’s dosh from? For a small country, we appear to have a ridiculous amount of charities.
Stomach churning the right term for the above allegations and if there is one thing that MUST come out of this horrendous affair, it is that homeless people are some of the most vulnerable in our society and at a minimum those working with them must be Garda vetted (although would this have made any difference here?). Jaw-dropping.
At the end of the day Garda vetting can only do so much, how could you ascertain that someone might be a potential predator otherwise?
No idea about the Iona institute but I do know they are essentially a private company and Iona Institute is a trading name.
Always seems to be a few quid behind these religious crusaders.
Also, look at Ruhama, essentially remarketed Nuns in disguise.
”This law will target the users of prostitution rather than the sex workers themselves” they said. Which seems to be quite different to what has actually happened, lots of sex workers criminalised, not so many ‘Johns’. The ‘whores’ need to be thought a lesson and no better Mna than the Nuns.
It’s almost like they forgot Jesus was besties with an escort.
ian-oG, Industry is right. That’s precisely the word the former catholic archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, used to describe the homeless Industry. Why are there so many charities doing the the same or similar work Patsy McGarry (IT Sat, Nov 30, 2019) made this very point: “Why does Ireland need seven major charities dealing with homelessness Focus Ireland, Threshold, St Vincent DePaul, Simon, Crosscare, Peter McVerry Trust, Irish Council for Social Housing), not to mention the smaller ones?”.
+1
Despicable crimes.
And there are 10,000 registered charities in Ireland. Not all are corrupt, but why so many for each needy cause? Not only is the Government outsourcing its responsibilities by funding so many of them, there is seemingly no effective regulation of, nor corporate and social responsibility in their management.
There’s are quite a few out there run by people who truly want to make a difference.
However, they are also a handy way for the government via HSE funding to play the good guy here but put responsibility for governance at arms reach and be able to cut funding at any time when it suits.
Also, I truly believe many are just slush funds.
Legal slush funds.
+1 ‘too much credence’
Regards the Cancer Society – my brother has cancer and he rang them for advice. They sent him out a fund raising pack.
I’ve heard that a few times, was on a reddit group about them and quite a few people who had cancer reported the same – rang for advice, they were asked for an address, got a fund raising pack in the mail.
Just look at who is their CEO – ex FF member. Quelle surprise!
That helping folks business pays well, €125,000 per annum.
A museum registered as a charity, the salary for the director is over 100,000 grand (the rest of the staff on peanuts):
https://www.thephoenix.ie/article/clever-trevors-pay-packet/
Those nice offices and salaries don’t just pay themselves..
Look. Everybody has done some good in their life. Even Morrissey.
The charity should not suffer. A learning lesson to tighten rules and make their, and others, operations better. The chap hardly set up a homelessness-related charity for the purposes of enablingh his alleged sexual behaviour.
And, frankly, this is lazy journalism by RTE again. Afterrans. Couldn’t investigate stuff before a tragedy unfolds, no?
Yeah and Hitler apparently liked dogs, what of it? Morrissey, the son of immigrants has turned into an anti immigration ass hat so whatever good he did is kind of moot. Still had some great music though to be fair.
”The charity shouldn’t suffer.”
The charity should not exist in a relatively prosperous country like Ireland in the first place.
Who knows why he set up the charity but it appears if the words of John are true that he recognized that he had the sort of status that would give his word credence over the most vulnerable among us and there were plenty of people willing to provide cover for him even if unwittingly.
“Hitler apparently liked dogs”.
BS providing a platform for reasoned, considered, and contextual debate by adults again.
Really? Considering your reply was merely a whine with no attempt to debate my point, you can blame yourself for that so.
”Hitler liked dogs” is a phrase used to point out that someone having a good quality does not exonerate them from bad behaviour.
If you actually tried debate rather than a emotive whine we might have something to talk about.
I guess irony isn’t your strong suit?