  I just started a petition: Disband the Artane Band.
It is no longer appropriate, with what we now know, about residential institutional child abuse at St Josephs Artane, that this band, should be still in existence, wearing the uniform of that institution – St Josephs Industrial School Artane, and making statements that they are proud of their history when in actual fact, the vast part of that history was engulfed in horrendous human rights breaches upon children, including child sex abuse at St Josephs Industrial school, Artane, where the band was founded.
 We who are the survivors should not have to endure the ordeal of this band in that uniform, parading around Croke Park, or any other public place. This is a constant active reminder of our ordeals and every effort should be made for this to stop. Our lives, in those institutions, matter. What happened to us matters. We have a right to get on with our lives to recover and to heal. The Artane Band, in its present form, is a major obstacle to that process. No other band of its type would be allowed to get away with what they are getting away with. The band is still under the control fo the Christian Brothers through the Artane Music School. If enough people sign my petition, we can make a difference. Here’s a link to the petition: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/Awo8W/zoyY/CRT_0 If there’s anyone you know who might be able to help me spread the word, please let me know. Thanks so much — I really appreciate your help! Kind regards, Gerard Mannix Flynn www.farcryproductions.ie
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Mannix Flynn
Independent Councillor, Dublin City Council. Writer, Artist, Performer
Mannix Flynn 
Is it not better in the long term that every time the Artaine “boys” band marches it reminds people of the terrible things which will happen to the weakest when the culture of a pious puritanical state and a zombie religious sect get involved in consealing the problems of a failed society.
It would be ethically and morally wrong for our pain and suffering, and for the pain and suffering of all those who were in institutions run by the Christian Brothers, to be used as a spectacle in the form of the Artane Band to remind the public. We don’t need reminding. And we would never give our consent to such an outrage. That’s our pain and our suffering. It doesn’t belong to the Artane Band, the Artane School of Music or the GAA. Absence of the Artane Band in its’ present form, off the national pitch in the GAA is a greater legacy and reminder.
Would you have the Jimmy Saville band? Would you have the Hitler youth band? It takes generations for the impact of what happened in these industrial schools to rescind. The Artane Band is an insult to us. It is also an insult to the Irish people and an affront to natural justice. There would be no harm whatsoever and plenty of support to disband this band and to recreate and reconstitute a proper band that doesn’nt have a disgusting past and an unproud history and that isn’t associated and contaminated by the historical fact that it was dominated by vile paedophiles and criminals who abused all around them. It is worth reading the Ryan Report on the Artane Chapter. I certainly hope that you change your mind and support us in this struggle.