Bruce Arnold Irish Independent 10 June 2009
A huge burden of guilt and fear still rests upon those people abused in the industrial schools and other institutions. Specific examples of guilt include the committal procedures by which many of them were hauled through the courts and sent to the child prison system run by the religious orders. Specific examples of fear may be readily found within the redress system through which many of the abused have taken their applications.
Unless the Dail addresses these issues in specific undertakings, then the debate tomorrow and Friday will become meaningless and the show of political solidarity will be wasted in fine words and emotional reactions. This is not what the abused men and women want.
It is difficult to define what it is they do want. A new organisation, calling itself Survivors of Institutional Abuse Ireland [SOIAI], has seized the initiative on applying public pressure, both on politicians generally and on the Government, by organising today’s march from the Garden of Remembrance to Leinster House. This is designed to set a solemn tone for tomorrow’s Dail exchanges. But its message is unclear. Though it intends to present a petition to CORI, its message there is unclear as well.
Continue reading »
