The God Squad

Letters to the Editor, The Examiner

Dear Editor,

Was Niall Meehan too kind to the Media in his Examiner letter of 14
January?

As a victim of neglect in the Bethany Home (1941-45) and from
unsuitable adoption parents, I have been campaigning for over 13
years to expose crimes against unwanted non-catholic children.
Initially, I was unable to get coverage of the can of worms I was
in the process of opening. Our comparatively smaller numbers in the
Protestant community and lack of knowledge in society generally meant that we were ignored.
I was initially offered help by two survivor groups, but sadly
nothing came of it.

In my desperation I came up with the idea of putting my frustration
into a book. It dealt with my life and how I was affected by
secrecy, the absence of care and indifference from the Church of
Ireland and from the State. The book was ‘Hannah’s Shame’ (2005).
It was the first book which told the story of Protestant children,
warts and all – as one person described it, a sort of ‘Angela’s Ashes’ for Protestants.
The book is used by secondary modern schools, colleges, private
schools, and in universities in the UK. Newspapers like the London
Guardian wrote articles on the book.

The research for my first book led me to my second, ‘Destiny Unknown’
(2008). I came across archival documents that detailed the
grotesque lack of care received by defenceless Bethany children,
whose only ‘crime’ was to be born unwanted, out of wedlock. The
documents showed how the state covered up its own critical reports
on Bethany’s own and of nursed out Bethany children.

Sadly I still could not get the Irish Media interested. If it
hadn’t have been for Niall Meehan’s research, that showed a link
between high child mortality in Bethany and the state’s
indifference, we would not have had media coverage in May and
September 2010. However, we were at last on the media’s radar.

However, this group of dead and neglected children did not feature
in various official reports, which stated that Protestant children
were catered for ‘privately’. Why Not? That was a cop-out. These
children were Irish citizens too. I am still one. It is time to
treat all of the children of the nation equally.

The current Irish Government is preparing for a General Election.
Why not do some good on the way out by recognising the right of
former Bethany (and of Roman Catholic Magdalene) residents to claim
restitution? It would help our campaign if people wrote to the
Taoiseach demanding this.

Derek Leinster,
Chair, Bethany Home Survivors Group,
42 Southey Road,
Rugby CV22 6HF
England