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Victims of abuse in tears as Irish president McAleese apologises
Monday, 29 June 2009
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Victims of child abuse wept last night after President Mary McAleese apologised for their suffering on behalf of the people of Ireland.
For many of them, now in old age, it was the first time they shed such tears of joy.
Over 280 victims of institutional abuse travelled from home and abroad to Aras an Uachtarain yesterday at the president’s invitation.
They had very different stories but they were all expressing joy and relief as they left last night.
In her speech, President McAleese spoke of the painful lives endured by thousands of children who had suffered institutional abuse, as laid out graphically in the Ryan report.
“It calls for responses at many levels, official and unofficial,” she said.
“For so long your suffering seemed to make strangers of you in your own land.”
Ms McAleese previously suggested that those behind the acts of criminal neglect or violence should be brought to justice.
Men and women in their seventies, eighties and nineties spoke of feeling “free” for the first time after they emerged from the gates of the presidential home in the Phoenix Park.
One guest, John Kelly, had lived on the streets of London after he suffered horrific abuse at the Daingean reformatory.
Yesterday he said the meeting with the president had been an historic occasion for many of the 14,000 abuse victims who fled Ireland.
He praised the president for giving them the desire to be Irish again and calling for the perpetrators of abuse to be prosecuted.
“I spent 33 years in England,” he
said.
“I slept on benches in Hyde Park. It was safer than those places.
“People wouldn’t come back. Why would they, for a state that didn’t care about them?
“Today’s the first day the State has acknowledged ‘You’re Irish and have rights’ and it’s 48 or 50 years too late.
“But this president has done that and that has given us hope and inspiration. And now we’re proud to be
Irish.”
He said he had seen dozens of old and frail faces light up as the president spoke to them.
As children they had been tried for offences they did not commit before being thrown into institutions, he said.
“Half of them emigrated and we brought many of these people back here today.
“Before they die they have heard the president saying ‘We were wrong’.”
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"It might be a 'nice' thing to do but is quite inexplicable. " says Malachie McAnespie
So what is your major issue with people doing nice things Mr Grumpy Boots Malachy? For God's sake, if such "cheap" gestures go even a little way to heal the hurt, to give a sense of empathy or understanding to the VICTIMS then it should be done...a little bit of "mea culpa" can do a lot of good....
Posted by Donie | 30.06.09, 12:17 GMT
I agree Jason this was very impoortant. The Irish state failed these children over many decades. It is the responsibility of the state to care for vunerable children and in Ireland it passed the buck to the Catholic church - a church that failed abjectly. Reading some of the cases where children were sent to these awful places for very spurious reasons often against family wishes is a disgraceful indictment of our state. The president's apology is a step in the right direction
Posted by Jake M | 29.06.09, 16:12 GMT
Malachy; thats a very silly thing to say. The apology and the whole day out, being taken to the presidents residence, was a big event for the victims and is one little part of their healing. The childrens parents did'nt 'dispose' of their children. The parents died and the children were put in by the authorities.
Posted by Jason | 29.06.09, 14:29 GMT
Such sin upon a nation, but thankfully these issues are finally brought into the light and dealt with. Giving humans such unlimited powers over other humans is folly.
Posted by Rowan | 29.06.09, 12:18 GMT
This is an irrational modern phenomena like Blair apologising for the Famine. It might be a 'nice' thing to do but is quite inexplicable. What is the point of apologising for something that you have not been responsible for ! There is a worrying aspect to this - ordinary mortals presume to take upon themselves the mantel of the Deity. Claire : The Ryan Report (a long convoluted document) is on the web - the facile manner in which poor parents disposed of children -it makes very sad reading.
Posted by Malachy McAnespie | 29.06.09, 11:20 GMT
Not before time the apology has been made, but what about those still locked into the suffering and pain?
Justice needs to be seen and to be done, to allow the survivors to start letting go of the anger, guilt and shame that is not theirs to have
Maybe, just maybe the rights of all survivors, north and south, will be looked at in more detail and more resources directed at the survivors, for group therapy work
Posted by Steve | 29.06.09, 10:31 GMT
too little, too late.
the damage has been done, the perverts are still free.
words are cheap
Posted by david mccormick | 29.06.09, 06:17 GMT
I am determinded to get a copy of the Ryan Report and read it from cover to cover. Every citizen of this land should be fully aware of what all those children had to go through in those institutions. How could little children be thrown into the hands of monsters where those who were not monsters could protect them? Take into account the ages of those little children who had no means of escape. Do not take into account the ages of those abusers, give them no means of escape, they must pay.
Posted by Claire Whelan | 29.06.09, 02:22 GMT