Letters to the Editor.
Wednesday December 22 2010
The scale of the crimes against children, and against humanity, committed by priests and other members of the Religious Orders over many decades is now a matter of historical record.
Those who suffered don’t need to and probably won’t read Chapter 19 of the Murphy Report, nor did they read the Report on the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. They know what happened. It happened to them.
I have heard it said by well-meaning people that the ‘victims can now hold their heads up high’, they have been vindicated. It’s not that easy. Lives have been destroyed, spouses, partners and children compelled to live with the impact of the nightmares inflicted on their loved ones.
I have seen men and women now in their 60s and 70s suffer such mental anguish that they have never been able to work and hold few friends dear. They are not even angry any more, just beaten and defeated. Many live out lost and desperate lives in the British cities of London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. They came to these places hoping to forget their past and start new lives. Some did, but they were very few.
They have a right to justice, to be compensated and for the Catholic Church, the Garda Siochana and other state institutions to tell the whole truth. We must not let those who still suffer, feel abandoned.
The burden of fighting for justice and for reparation must not fall on them but it must fall on the rest of us in Irish society. It is the legacy of our parents and grandparents who stood by and let it happen, but mostly it is the legacy of a corrupt and amoral Catholic hierarchy where the child who suffered was of no consequence.
For those who emigrated from Mother Ireland, thoughts of Ireland only bring pain. I see those who suffered in the streets of London and I rage inside against the injustice.
I have reflected a lot on Pope Benedict’s calls for a renewal of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and more and more I believe that is not the path to justice and truth. We should instead dedicate our lives in pursuit of justice for those the Irish State failed to cherish.
Cllr Sally Mulready
Founder Irish Women Survivors Support Network
Camden Sq, London
Irish Independent
