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Very good and fair article from Tonybee adressing the witchhunt from the (far) right wing media groups over the Shannon Matthews and Baby P cases.  Quick to point out Matthews 7 children by 5 different fathers and 350 pound a week in benefits (not a lot really to keep 7 children and 1 adult on mind you), but not quick to point out that it was the Sun newspaper that was the sitting duck who put up the "reward" that Matthews and her equally vile partners appear to have plotted to collect.

The other interesting point is the deceit practiced against newspaper reporters and the police was probably routinely practised on social workers - albeit vastly underresourced and overworked social workers.  Polly out points out that there is only a very small hard core of families on benefits (implicitly this is suggested as lone parent families by the right wing press, almost always blaming the mother) while apparently much of the problem there is drug and alcohol abuse and a total inability to put care of children before their own needs.

Admittedly I also have noticed one thing in dysfunctional families like these: a deep problem in prioritising childrens needs and in one or two more extreme cases a failure to understand the need to protect children from dangers such as parental violence, abusive extended family members, and substance abuse. The whole structure and glorification of "family" is also deeply unhelpful as family members often protect undeserving family members out of misplaced loyalty for another family member, commonly a sick parent.  The abusive relation is usually very quick to exploit this.  The irony is that the very sacred notion of family creates an almost impenetrable protective layer for abusive adults, or sometimes makes it impossible for practitioners to help children with needs, even if there is no adult threat present.

The real message sent out by these kind of cases is that very very troubled people who exist who should not simply be ignored by social services because they are "too difficult" or a "nuisance".  Careful record keeping and escalation procedures would have helped this family stay on the radar for long enough for the children to be taken out of danger, its unfortunate that it did so with such a public level of scrutiny.

Like other rugby fans who were one of the lucky ones who got to all 4 Ireland tests and the Munster test in the last 3 weeks, it was nice to see a gesture of solidarity with the people of Limerick in the minutes silence at the 2 NZ games in memory of Garryowen's Shane Geoghan.  Such as tragic death has not only deeply upset the ordinary (and I might add, contrary to popular mythology VERY respectable) people of Limerick, its gradually exposed how criminal gangland has spilt over into the larger community.

A significant proportion of the notorious families in Limerick are in fact behind bars.  However, looking at the reasons for this, it appears that overwhelmingly, they are in there for minor crimes - mostly relating to road traffic or public order offences.  You have to wonder at the extent of systemic failure when few, if any, of these criminal gangs are actually in jail for their "real " crimes.  One was arrested for being intoxicated in a public place and urinating on a police vehicle.  Another was recently arrested for "threatening and abusive behaviour."  But these appear to be both cold blooded contract killers and narcotics dealers on a massive scale - why are they not being charged with serious offences that would keep them off the streets permanently?

Yet on the other hand, I read this week a plea from a young man on an Irish forum, who had just received a summons.  His crime?  He was drunk in public, passed out and picked up by the Gardai.  But this wasn't what they were charging him for.  He had a very small amount of cannabis on his person, for personal use, and they are charging him with possession.  No doubt he is a horrendous threat to the community, is causing carnage on our streets and making widows, yet he gets pretty much the same treatment as these thugs in Limerick.  If they even just given him an adult caution, he would have a police record for life - as the Adult Cautioning policies of 2006 has no way of wiping the slate clean.  So get done for even the most minor of offences, and you can be refused a visa for Australia for the rest of your life.  Oh and incidentally, 10 years ago my brother and a friend were viciously assaulted by a pair of thugs outside a night club in Dublin.

I say vicious, because one of the animals who assaulted them bit his friend, drawing blood, and he had to undergo a HIV test.  Some time later, the pair of dogs who did this got the probation act.  Which effectively means they are categorized into the same category as the cannabis user.  Where is justice in Ireland where we insist on tarring largely harmless people with the same punishments as hardened criminals while failing utterly to tackle very serious murders and drug dealing?