Joe Duffy’s Liiveliiine on RTE Radio 1 today was an absolute
powerhouse of emotion and national identity. I listened aghast as “Terry” spoke
about her experiences inside the laundry room. Harrowing and eloquently put,
she summed it up with “those involved, I forgive them…because they need healing
too”. Healing is too good for the criminals involved in the atrocious treatment
they inflicted on over 10,000 women between 1922 and 1996. Their Dickensian
conditions and forced slavery were an affliction on this country nearly a century
after the rest of the western world had declared such things unacceptable. The
nuns, priests and officials involved evoked memories of medieval atrocity. This
island is too good for them. A large proportion of the Maggies have left the country in self-inflicted shame, those
responsible should have been exiled in their stead.
It was an honour to hear the courage and conviction in those women’s voices. Watching the women on Primetime tonight could bring a stone to tears. True Irish heroines.
The report, headed by the fundamentalist, sorry,
fundamentally Christian Martin McAleese offers little in the way of allegation
towards the nuns and priests who brutalised these women. They didn’t touch them?
They didn’t need to. They had already done their psychological damage. The
report, introduced to find out the state’s involvement did that and that alone.
If some untoward tales about the Church had been confirmed along the way, they unfortunately
fell by the wayside. You would wonder if this was at the ex-Senator’s behest.
As we all know, Mrs. McAleese is studying theology in Rome after all. The
apple-cart must not be overturned you see! The Roman Catholic Church has been
relatively unscathed in the opening salvos. When is this country going to
denounce its involvement with the organisation that has been at the very root
of some of the most appalling moments in our history? A secular
democracy? We couldn't be further. The Christian Brothers and multiple denominations of Sisters have scarred the
youth of our country over and over in recent history and very little reparation has
been made. Scandalous.
Enda Kenny has come under a barrage of criticism for failing
to react with an immediate apology. To keep par for this government’s
course, the S(h)inners as usual were first to react. Mary Lou McDonald clutched
at a populist brownie point by demanding a State apology then and there,
neglecting to realise that a 4 volume, 1000 page report may take some time to
digest. Bit of decorum Deputy, please. Here’s your imaginary political scoreline:
Sinn Fein – a million, everyone else – bored. That said, the Time Magazine
covergirl is notoriously sloth- like in his reactions to this kind of thing. You can picture him in a film on Channel 4 at lunch time, up against the fastest draw in
the Wild West, six shooter at his hip, the bell strikes high noon...aaaand he
looks up from his boiled egg and soldiers announcing to nobody; “Ah shite. I’ve a duel with
Billy the Kid.” It’s grand Enda, Eamon filled in and is currently picking
up most of his internal organs.
I would, however, imagine they still have the political nous to apologise in
two weeks once they teach most of the independents to read so that they can get on
with the debate.
In other news, the Gardai are “searching for more traces of horsemeat in beef products” according to the commissioner. Soooo…a BBQ is it lads?
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