The Star (Ireland), Thursday 12th June, 1997

Relatives Reject 'Odhran Letter'

Plea to Government for an investigation

Relatives of Scientologist Odhran Fortune yesterday met with a Government Minister about his case. The Co. Wexford family believe Odhran (24) has been brainwashed by the so-called "church". The young man left his Courtown workplace with two cult members 11 days ago to go to their Britain base. His brother Diarmuid has already urged the Government to copy the German government's decision to monitor the Church of Scientology. Family members travelled to Leinster House yesterday where Diarmuid (30) said they had met two Government representatives, including a Minister. "Odhran must realise that we love him - we don't care what he says or what he signs, we believe he has been co-erced," Diarmuid told The Star. The Fortunes have already collected 6,000 names for a petition for the Government to investigate Scientology. Meanwhile, Odhran last night said he had complained to the police about "vicious deprogrammers" and is pursuing a civil action against them.

Letter

In a letter to Ireland International news agency he alleged his family was, and continues to be, "viciously manipulated" by five named "deprogrammers". He also claimed he was kept in Ireland against his will from December last until earlier this month. He wrote: "I am making this statement as I want the truth known. "I am currently rebuilding my life. I have no regrets about leaving gorey but I regret that my family was viciously manipulated by deprogrammers. These deprogrammers were (five named persons). "For months I was deprived of the ability to run my own life, and made to do things against my will, at times deprived of sleep (up to 25 hours) and physically assaulted. "My passport was taken away from me so that I could not leave, I was constantly escorted and I was prevented from even using a telephone. "I hate these people who ruined my family. They are a despicable lot. They pretend to be interested in family but it's all a sham. "I will do what I know is right."

Here's another article. Can you guys in Ireland tell us which articles you have, so that we can divide up the remaining transcription work? Thanks.

Church takes out injunction against Fortune family.

The Church of Scientology has taken out a HiIgh Court injunction against the Fortune family from Gorey, preventing them from going within 10 feet of their Dublin office. The family staged a protest outside the office at Abbey Street on Monday last.

Over 40 people from Gorey travelled to the capital for the protest in which banners were used by the family to highlight their case. They went public with the story of their son, 24-year old Odhran, late last week. They say they are disturbed by his sudden disappearance from his job in Courtown Harbour over a week ago. They subsequently learned he had returned to London to re-join the Church of Scientology.

The family travelled over there last week in an attempt to meet with him. Meanwhile the family say they will continue to highlight their case and focus media attention on the workings of the Church of Scientology. They intend continuing their protest near the office premises while abiding by the injunction and invite anyone from the area who is in Dublin to join with them. They are also circulating a petition which they are asking people to sign calling on the goverment to investigate the Church of Scientology as is happening in Germany at present.

The Evening Herald, Thursday, June 12, 1997

by Merese Mc Donagh

Scientologists brand reporter Aideen Sheehanan emotional wreck - Yet a pyschologist insists she is well-adjusted.

Cult's damaging personality test.

Families divided by a "religion".

"Its been nine years but we still hope he will come back," said Denis Robinson. "Its okay to day he's an adult and can do what he likes, but his personality changed". A computer engineer from Clonmel, Tony got involved with the church shortly after his mother died. He was made redundant around the same time and his family believe this made him susceptible. "It started off with the personality tests and then he got a book on dianetics", recalls Denis. Gradually he cut his ties with the family. Denis joined the Fortunes and around 20 relatives and friends from Gorey who came to protest in Dublin after a bizarre chain of events in London involving High Court injunctions, meetings in toilets and car chases through London.

The Fortunes had trvelled to Scientology's British headquaters to meet Odhran their six foot something son who they say shrank to seven stone when he came home at Christmas. They were confronted by stringent security and, according to Odhran's brother Diarmuid, spent two and a half hours driving in circles around London. Eventually the trail led to the High Court where Damian Fortune met his brother in a toilet. His parents saw for 10 minutes on a corridor. Odhran was distraught when he met his parents and told them: "Call off the media - if you don't I will disconnect".

The Scientologists have applied for a High Court injunction preventing the family from coming within 200 metres of their headquaters. "We are highlighting this so that the Irish public know we have lost our son," said the Fortunes. His father, who has a furniture shop in Gorey and his mother a hairdressers, say they are heartbroken but will not give up. "We love him and we will always be there for him" Denis Robinson said families cannot give up. "We have to care. Think what happened in Waco and Canada. People can die in the extreme cases so you cannot afford not to care.." "They are after your mind and your money. Once they get your mind they get your wallet."

SCIENTOLOGY has come under the spotlight as the Fortune family claim it has brainwashed their 24-year-old son Odhran.

And they've warned other young people could be vunerable to the mind control they say is the Scientologist's method of inducing and holding onto new members. The first for many is the free personality test which anyone who frequents O' Connell Street and Abbey Street will probably have been offered.

We decided to take them up on it - but also took a recognised psychological profile to see how the two compared. The results of my Scientology test were far from pretty - in fact according to them I'm a wreck. If I wasn't depressed going in for the test, I sure as hell was coming out of it. If its possible to fail a personality test, I did. On a graph plotting my character, the ratings constantly plummeted into the nether regions of "unacceptable characteristics". In six out of 10 key areas my character requires "urgent action" to correct these flaws, the scientologists told me. Not only am I unstable, depressed and nervous, I'm also irresponsible, critical and withdrawn.

I have a few good points mind you - well one actually, I'm quite active. I'm also moderately appreciative of others, fairly uninhibited and sure of myself - but nothing to get excited about. Unfortunately, unlike many people who avail of the Scientology tests I had the back-up of a professional second opinion. Chartered psychologist Pat Short of ETC Consult, which specailises in personality profiles for career guidance, said the pass-fail type presentation of the Scientology test results were enough to set off niggling doubts even in a confident and well-adjusted person. "No psycologist would tell someone their personality was 'unacceptable' in so many ways. It's not just unhelpful, it could be extremely damaging to someone who was already vulnerable," he said. "You can imagine an 18-year-old in the throes of adolescence being told things like that - their self-esteem would be shattered. It would kill them."

But it wasn't just a case of the truth being brutal, he added. Not only were the results presented in a dangerously negative manner, they were also at odds with the findings of the personality profile ETC Consult had carried out on me the previous day. By contrast with the Scientologists' ringing condemnation ETC had found I was happy-go-lucky, forthright, assertive, adaptable, articulate and (thank God for this) emotionally stable. It wasn't all good news mind you, apparently I have a strong dislike for rules and regulations and am also very tense and apprehensive about the future.

But while a certain cluster of chatacteristics would tend to suggest a socailly maladjusted, Pat Short said, a quick check indicated I didn't come into that category. Indeed, if I was really as unstable, depressed and irresponsible as the Scientologists had claimed, it was very unlikely I'd be able to hold down a job at all, he added.

In format their grandly titled "Standard Oxford Capacity Analysis Test" is almost identical to the internationally recognised PF-16 Personality Profile i took with ETC Consult. Both use multiple choice questionnaires resulting in a printed graphand breakdown of results - and I could write to an address in England if I wanted to know more about their test, the Scientologists told me.

However, even filling in their questionnaire was enough to put you in a bad mood - focusing as it did on the negative experiences a person may have had. After all, most people would get upset if their "world caved in" on them, nearly everyone is touchy about something, and feeling depressed occasionally is usually a universal trait - but answering yes to dozens of such questions does leave you feeling a bit down.

Psychologist Pat Short agreed any negative feelings would jump straight out at you from the Scientology test, by highlighting areas where a person felt vulnerable, and failing to ask about the happier side of their life. "There's very few references to interests or enthusiasms, but anything you were worried about would be easy pickings. That's not a balanced or helpful approach to a person's total personality," he said.

But whatever the faults of their personality tests the Scientologists certainly weren't pushy about getting me into their expensive auditing courses to solve my problems. Even when I asked what I should do about my poor showing in the personality stakes, they didn't suggest signing up on the spot as some critics have claimed. One of their neatly dressed members told me I should simply buy a copy of one of their books and come back for further information or courses if I was still interested. The pickets of the last few days have left them a bit jumpy - he did enquire a couple of times if I was a journalist.

The bottom line with the Fortune family was they had been got at by "Christian fundamentalists deprogrammers" who wouldn't tolerate other people's right to freedom of religion, he said. In other countries those same foreign "deprogrammers" had even targetted Catholics whereas thechurch of Scientology allows people to remain a practicing Catholic as well as a scientologist, he claimed.

'Unstable' people at risk.

The Scientologists don't brainwash their members, but they target people who are at crisis point in their lives by bombarding them with information and often isolating them from the influence of their family and friends, says Mike Garde. Mike is a counsellor with Dialogue Ireland, which is funded by the four main churches to counteract the growing influences of religious sects. Although numerically small - he estimates they only have 40 adherents in this country - the church of Scientology excerts a strong emotional grip on those members trying to leave,which often leads to severe mental difficulties, he said. "People caught up in Scientology find it exremely difficult to reconcile its claims with those of their family which leads to severe mental stress."

While there had to be freedom of religious expression, the scientologists should be scrutinised from a business viewpoint as they were encouraging people to spend large sums of money on their courses, he added. Scientologists used vicious slurs to discredit anyone opposed to them, Mr. Garde said.

The church of Scientology was founded in 1954 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard who claimed starting a religion was the best way to make a million dollars. Scientology claims man is inhabited by a spirit called a "Thetan" whose pure conscious mind is sullied by "engrams", or pictures of reality which can be cleared through an expensive auditing process which leads to improved health and perception. Worldwide it is said to have up to eight million adherents including celebrities like Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman and John Travolta.

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