Colm O'Gorman
| Colm O'Gorman | |
|---|---|
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| Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland | |
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Assumed office January 2008 |
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| Senator | |
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In office May – July 2007 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
15 July 1966 County Wexford, Ireland |
| Nationality | Irish |
Colm O'Gorman (born 15 July 1966) is the Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland. He is founder and former director of One in Four.
He is a survivor of clerical sexual abuse, and first came to public attention by speaking out against the perpetrators. O'Gorman subsequently founded One in Four, an Irish charity which supports men and women who have been sexually abused and/or suffered sexual violence.
He was a Senator in 2007, representing the Progressive Democrats.
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 to live in Wexford town. He twice stood unsuccessfully as a Fianna Fáil candidate in general elections: in 1969 and 1973.
In 2002, Colm O'Gorman settled near Gorey, County Wexford. He is raising two children with his husband Paul, of whom they have joint legal guardianship. When this was revealed it generated debate on fosterships in the Irish media.
As an adolescent in County Wexford – between the age of 15 and 18 – O'Gorman was sexually abused by Fr 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 sued the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns and the Dublin Papal Nuncio, inter alia the then Pope, John Paul II, 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.
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