Compassion is still hard to find
Wednesday April 16 2008
I wish to respond to the letters by Ms Christine Buckley and Mr Paddy Doyle, Apology doesn’t wash with regards to the survivors of institutional abuse in Ireland and the formal apology given by the Bertie Ahern.
After reading Mr Doyle’s book, ‘The God Squad’, I believe that the formal apology given by Mr Ahern to the survivors of institutional abuse is more than warranted and deserved.
I consider myself to be fortunate enough to have been born in the United States. In 1955, when I was three years old, my father took his life.
In the United States, the surviving children of the parent who committed suicide are not charged with a crime.
We may hold public office, perform jury duty, and partake in all of the rights that Mr Doyle and other Irish “criminals” cannot, due to their convictions under the 1908 — 1941 Children’s Act.
After reading Mr Doyle’s book, it is my understanding that children whose parent committed suicide (and if by that act, the child was rendered an orphan) were deemed to be guilty of a crime.
I grew up in 1950s America and was confused by my family’s half truths regarding my father’s death. My family felt a strong need to keep my father’s “shameful” act a secret.
Fortunately, I was not orphaned by my father’s suicide, his death left my mother to raise three children. I believe that my mother handled my father’s suicide in the best way that she knew at the time.
The only “crime” committed by Mr Doyle, and the other children served with Orders of Detention, was that a parent took their own life, or that the child was born in Ireland.
I believe that the T aoiseach should grant pardons to these innocent children. They did not commit a crime, but they carry the stigma of “criminals” due to the Irish courts, with the apparent approval of the Irish Government.
ROXANNE FISCHER CLAREMONT, MINNESOTA, United States of America
