Last updated: Sunday, April 20, 2008
Letters to the Editor, Irish Times 17th April 2008
Madam,
Christine Buckley (April 11th) lavishes praise on Bertie Ahern for his management of the economy, for his role in the Northern peace process and his apology to those of us who were institutionalised and abused by various organisations of the State and by members of religious orders, all in the name of childcare.
Ms Buckley seems to forget that the apology given by Bertie Ahern was not something he gave willingly. It was brought about by the revulsion of people who watched the States of Fear programmes on RTÉ.
His apology came about just before the screening of the third programme in the series, when the government and the religious orders were being shown to have covered up the most horrendous abuse of innocent children.
As Taoiseach, Mr Ahern and various members of his Government were aware before the screening of States of Fear that institutional abuse of children in the care of the State was widespread.
My own book, The God Squad, highlighted this issue 20 years ago, yet not one single member of any government or religious order ever apologised to me, or indeed to the many thousands of children who were served with “Orders of Detention”, rendering them criminals.
Perhaps before he leaves office and fades into the background of Irish politics, the Taoiseach will rescind those orders of detention served on children as young as one year and who today are in effect branded as criminals under the 1908-1941 Children’s Act.
According to Ms Buckley, Mr. Ahern’s apology “lifted the veil of secrecy, stigma and injustice which had dogged our lives and impeded our futures. His apology touched our hearts profoundly, because it was clear that he had listened to survivors with a depth of commitment unequalled by any other politician, apart from the then minister of education, Micheál Martin”.
Mr Ahern’s apology did not touch my heart. It didn’t touch the hearts of many thousands of people who were abused while in the care of the State. The “veil of secrecy” to which Ms Buckley refers was lifted long before Mr Ahern uttered a word of apology. There is no evidence I know of that Mr Ahern listened to survivors? I hold the view that, were it not for the sterling work of journalists such as Bruce Arnold and Mary Raftery, no apology would ever have been forthcoming from Mr Ahern.
I can only surmise that the “swiftness with which he followed up his words with actions that supported the healing process for all of us” is a reference to the Redress Board, set up to “compensate” people who had been detained in industrial schools around the country and treated brutally in every sense of the word.
As one who appeared before the Redress Board, I’d like to elaborate on its secret proceedings; but to do so would see me being fined €2,000 in the first instance. Were I or anyone else who appeared before the board to speak about what went on behind its closed doors a second time, we would face a fine of €25,000 and/or two years in prison.
Surely Ms Buckley can’t regard what I view as a perversion of natural justice as being in any way a “healing process for all of us”.
Yours, etc,
PADDY DOYLE, Ardagh, Co Longford.
