Donegal Democrat Newspaper
Article featuring Innocent Voices UK & Martin Ridge.
Thursday 24th Spetember ’09
Donegal Book Prompts The Start of Scottish Support Website
By Michelle Nic Phaidin
A controversial book which describes a horrific series of child sex abuse cases in a Donegal parish has prompted people in Scotland to establish a support website which has been inundated with calls from people from the west of the county.
Approaching retirement, garda Martin Ridge found himself posted to a quiet corner of Co Donegal, investigating one of the most horrific series of child sex abuse cases in Ireland. The former garda found himself so moved by the stories that he had borne witness to that he penned the book “Breaking the Silence”.
This is the book that inspired women from Scotland to establish their own website, innocentvoicesuk.com which they hoped would reach out to other people who were abused and wished to have their voices heard.
A spokesperson for the website, who wished to be known only as Hazel, said: “This website came about due to the work of one man, Martin Ridge. I have read a lot of books on abuse in my time but Martin’s book spoke to me. It was different. It wasn’t part of his job description to pen this book but yet he persevered despite it all. I thought if this man can do it, we can do it.”
The lady who wishes to ne known only as Hazel has said that many people from west Donegal have reached out to the site in bid to confide in someone.
She said “There has been a huge amount of interest expressed from people in your area. There are also a lot of people from Donegal who live in Glasgow and the UK who have also shown interest.”
Hazel hopes that this website will help people to have their voices heard.
The website states: “People need a helping hand to deal with abuse. Everyone who suffers abuse has a voice lets use it to educate adults on the signs. To make society today see that keeping silent aids these abusers to abuse. To make society face the reality that it’s everyone’s responsibility to prevent these people from abusing all our children.”
Note: We are awaiting the arrival of the Donegal Democrat Newspaper and we will scan the article onto the site as soon as it arrives.
