Friday, January 28, 2011
AS a child survivor of the state neglect and abuse in a minority religious institution, I wish to reply to recent letters.
I have been reading various state enquiries about the terrible neglect and abuse inflicted on Catholic children by some members of the Catholic Church, as aided and abetted by the state.
It was not until I read Derek Leinster’s book, Hannah’s Shame, that I realised I was not the only Protestant survivor who had suffered neglect by state and church. Because the media did not cover this aspect, the public did not know about it.
After Niall Meehan and Derek Leinster stood in Mount Jerome cemetery on May 26, 2010 in Dublin, on the spot containing 40 unmarked children’s graves, media coverage improved. The discovery of a total of 219 unmarked children’s graves in Mount Jerome on Sept 10, 2010 astonished reporters. But why hadn’t these investigative journalists done more to report Protestant abused and neglected children? As we know the state has spent €1.2 billion in sorting out this horrific problem for those from the majority religion. It would be nice to see the state’s money being spent on investigating this terrible legacy for all the citizens of Ireland.
Has not the national media some soul searching to do, to give proper exposure to minority experience, so our country is not seen as discriminating against one small group of its citizens?
Patrick Anderson-Mcquoid
Member of the Bethany Home Survivors Group
Co Leitrim
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, January 28, 2011
The media have always been aware of the situation concerning child care . thay knew in the thirties. and in the 40′ 50thsbut thay kept acting like it was not worth writing about . thay wanted above all to praise the church for the so called good work . that was propaganda. and its still going on. your are right its unfair to the whole nation.