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The industrial school scandal will run and run
Read more about: Crime, Health, Law, Proverty, Scandal, Social Policy, Youth 
Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence this morning had a superb roundup of the Ryan commission report and the fallout from it, with a comprehensive panel discussion (segment begins 33 minutes in). The panel discussion made news with an apparent nod from the hierarchy that the 2002 indemnity deal will have to be reopened. A nod that appears to have caught the government off-guard. It’s not clear that the government realizes how thin the ice underneath it is — do none of them remember what brought down Albert Reynolds? They are now faced with a toxic brew of the 2002 deal, the oft-floated children’s rights referendum, and the still unclear situation regarding inspection of children’s institutions in the Republic, which one would have thought is the minimum thing needing clarity with the Church and government promising “never again”.
Hysteria and money. Rte should be careful if it not to be accused of incitement to hatered. When I was going to mass this morning I heard some one on RTE Radio at about 11.20am say that “all the people of Ireland over 50 should hang their heads in shame”. I certainly do not hang my head in shame. I think the person who incites such hatred should hang his head in shame. I was born in the middle of a war where people were persuaded to kill fifty million of their fellow men mostly Europeans. So don’t tell me that Rwanda was an isolated incident.
To claim that one was unaware of the abuses of the catholic church in say, the 1950s is a liar. They all knew where to send the girls if they gave birth out of wedlock They were quick to ostracise those who had children out of wedlock, whether it be through an unmarried relationship or a rape. It didn’t matter, off to the mother-and-baby home you went where your child was taken away and where you spent the rest of your days in servitude.
Did you really believe that those people who cleaned sheets in the religeous laundries were in gainful employment?
While this point in time is for examining closely how the religeous orders treated thousands of children, let us not forget what they did to those young girls, adults.
Agree with Squid. The people who let this happen were our parents and grandparents, and we cannot pretend that the majority didn’t know what was going on. Sometimes there is a requirement for collective guilt in a society, for that society to fittingly acknowledge the horror perpetrated on such a large segment of it. We must never forget that everybody who didn’t shout ‘stop’ was in some small way responsible. Almost every family had a ‘fallen woman’ or a scandal that was hushed up, and we need to respect the suffering of the people whose lives were destroyed by Church and State. And, yes, I think this puts the Government in real danger, given that its position is already precarious this could well be the final straw.
squid & cd,
You do not seem to have read my post above. If you are over thirty five your parents had more to worry about than what went on in orphages and industrial schools. As I said above I was born in the middle of a war where people were persuaded to kill about 50 million of their fellow men most of them fellow Europeans. And you seem to think all we had to worry about were orphans and delinquents.
You do not seem to have a clue about life at that time and yet “squid” you call me a liar. I can only suggest that you get real, get over your hysteria and read a bit of history. I lived through it. I know what hysteria and incitement can do.
This ” we are all resposible” mantra is spin on the basis if we are all responsible ,then nobody is responsible. I am a senior citizen and never had any knowledge of what went on in these homes, my only knowledge of Artane was their band leading off the parade at the All Ireand final. Many of us were cold and poor but I don’t know anyone who suspected sadism and sexual abuse. It was the function of department officials and those in authority to know and if they didn’t know then they were not fit for their jobs. Some politicians of the day should have known. I am appalled by the report but don’t blame me and don’t blame my parents–they accepted hard times as the norm but would never have condoned abuse.Are we squeekey clean today–a major cut back in the budget was the reduction in the special needs assistants in primary schools while quangos, advisors , political hacks , constituency secretaries,overpaid judges, PR people and assorted leeches remain intact and overpaid. This policy has fairly widespread public approval, otherwise it wouldn’t survive.
“Many of us were cold and poor but I don’t know anyone who suspected sadism and sexual abuse.”
Whatever about yourself, I think that most people had some notion of what was going on. When you look at the atrocities that were approved of in our normal primary schools, where children were beaten with bamboo and leather for simply getting sums wrong or talking out of turn, what exactly did people would think would happen to those looked upon as the worst of the worst when they were placed in the full time care of those who were not their parents?
If a typical teacher thought that the solution to poor spelling was violence and society found that acceptable, then what was one to accept as the solution to those children who stole except extreme violence? If the 7 year old son of the bank manager could expect to receive several slaps with a cane during the typical week, what did people think would happen to the son of an alcoholic or gambler?
I agree with Niall. My father was from a large family in Kerry and my mother from cork, both went to normal schools. My mothers arm was broken by her teacher, when her mother complained she was visited by the local priest, who told her that if she was to take it further she would not have another days luck in her life. My father was also viciously beaten at school which affected himfor the rest of his life, raising 8 children in London. He would not allow us to be schooled as Catholics. yes people had a good idea about what went on in the industrial schools, I remember my parents talking. why oh why was nothing done, why were these evil people allowed to do what they did for so long?