Friday, January 14, 2011
I APPRECIATE Eric Conway’s reply to my criticism of his letter (December 23 and January 7).
He accused the media of blocking coverage of what happened in the Protestant evangelical Bethany Home. I pointed out that when evidence of large-scale neglect and child mortality was produced it was published and that politicians form all parties and none spoke out on the issue.
To take up Mr Conway’s general point, one reason why there has been more attention paid to Roman Catholic institutions is because the Catholic population is 20 times larger than the Protestant one. For historical reasons, there are differences in the socio-economic profile of the two groups, which possibly affected the number of ‘problematic’ Protestants coming to official attention. A smaller Protestant population meant that more from the Protestant community may have been amenable to internal management, something promoted by the state. It is clear that there are similarities in the experiences of groups such as unmarried mothers and their “illegitimate” children, irrespective of denomination.
These experiences stemmed from prejudicial social attitudes that were not peculiarly Irish. But Irish society stayed institutionally conservative longer than others and retains a haphazard and underdeveloped welfare and health system. This is a state failure and derives fundamentally from economic conservatism rather than from Catholicism or Protestantism. The state ensured an equality of sectarian provision of health services that masked general inequality.
It was an abdication of responsibility by the state (and by society generally) to allow sectarian disposal and definition of social problems.
A particular problem for the Roman Catholic Church today is that it assumed responsibility for provision that was morally corrupt and intellectually barren. That issue attracts public and therefore media attention. The Church of Ireland gives the impression of being worried that acceptance of moral responsibility for Bethany Home shortcomings, through its clergy’s involvement, may lead to the legal kind. Hence, a somewhat spin-doctored approach to the issue.
But that is not the main issue for Bethany victims. During the Celtic Tiger years the state threw money at the abuse problem and hoped the victims and its own responsibility would go away.
However, the scheme was not thought through properly. Some victims cannot go away because, like the former Bethany and Magdalen residents, they were barred from consideration in the first place.
The state is barring the way to restitution, not the media or Catholic or Protestant churches. That said, there is nothing stopping media organisations from commissioning a documentary on the story of the Bethany children and others whose stories should be heard.
Niall Meehan
Griffith College
Dublin
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Friday, January 14, 2011
My mother is a Bethany home survivor – her treatment was inhumane and unchristian to say the very least, certainly in breach of most articles of the European human rights convention. What have the C of I to say about this despicable episode. Next to nothing – they are in total denial, yet over the generations and to this day (in private) they have lots to say about roman catholic oppression and criminality of various sorts. In fact there are quite a few legally detained individuals on the island who claim to be the MAN, a great deal more humanity is contained in their perspiration than all the Bishops in Ireland.
Knowing that you know something and seeing it as a reality are two very differcult things to sort out at the same time. religion is just an excuse and a very handy one to use as a way of answering for all that harm done even now. the governement is a very good place to make lots of money.its a very well paid job with lots of perks. thats why thay take on these jobs. its not for others. thay pretend to care thats all.If more people got that kind of pay there wouldnt be so many snobs.
Religion has poisoned this country – and it’s religion that has given us our deeply unequal society. It was the children of the poor who were incarcerated – whether they were labelled Roman Catholic or Protestant. Both organisations saw the poor as an embarrassment, or as an opportunity to exploit. And did they exploit us? They enriched themselves on our labours and the many psychotic and sexual deviants amongst them satiated their bloodlust on our bodies knowing that they would not suffer any sanctions.
The only way to get the truth out is to write about it, document it, make movies, etc in order to get the truth into the public arena.
However the Irish people in general would rather not have to face the truth that the men and women of god were rapists, torturers, psychological abusers, sadists etc.
Irish people as a whole must face the truth that we knew of the rape and torture of “disposable” children in the care of the state and we did nothing.
As children, we were threatened with being sent to these homes, if we misbehaved too.
As children, we too lived in fear- so we were mental prisoners- though not locked up with the other children.
We know how the adults despised these disposable children.
We know the names they were called by our own parents- so of course these men and women keep quiet, lest they have to confess to viewing the children as cattle too.
We as a society were conditioned to see THESE CHILDREN- children of WHORES as sub human and in that way we could turn a blind eye to their rapes and tortures and screams for help.
We should not fall into the old patriarchal trap of divide and rule – with Catholic V Protestant etc, because all children are born free and human and not belonging to any religion.
All children are children of the Universe- so no labels of country, religion, rich, poor etc.