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Ireland's president speaks out on abuse
Source: Agencies |
May 29, 2009, Friday
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THE president of Ireland said yesterday a harrowing report into how Catholic priests and nuns had abused children had not come as a shock after her own convent school experiences.
"I had a fair idea it was happening," Mary McAleese said in an interview with state broadcaster RTE.
"I was educated by Mercy Nuns, my brothers went to Christian Brothers schools. Some of the stories that come through the Ryan Report would not be unfamiliar to us."
Revelations of floggings, slave labor and rape in Ireland's now defunct system of industrial and reform schools have shamed Irish people, particularly older generations who did not confront the widespread abuse.
The report, chaired by High Court Justice Sean Ryan, criticized the Department of Education for colluding in the silence surrounding the abuse and noted children were also preyed upon by foster parents, volunteer workers and employers.
"I had always known that culture, that ethic, that domineering authoritarianism allied unfortunately to a culture of corporal punishment and a culture of abusive corporal punishment," said McAleese, who was educated in Northern Ireland, which was not covered by the report.
She said abusers should be prosecuted.
"In so far as there are people still alive who are responsible for these criminal acts then surely part and parcel of what comes out of the Ryan Report is and should be that they are brought before the proper authorities," said McAleese.
"I had a fair idea it was happening," Mary McAleese said in an interview with state broadcaster RTE.
"I was educated by Mercy Nuns, my brothers went to Christian Brothers schools. Some of the stories that come through the Ryan Report would not be unfamiliar to us."
Revelations of floggings, slave labor and rape in Ireland's now defunct system of industrial and reform schools have shamed Irish people, particularly older generations who did not confront the widespread abuse.
The report, chaired by High Court Justice Sean Ryan, criticized the Department of Education for colluding in the silence surrounding the abuse and noted children were also preyed upon by foster parents, volunteer workers and employers.
"I had always known that culture, that ethic, that domineering authoritarianism allied unfortunately to a culture of corporal punishment and a culture of abusive corporal punishment," said McAleese, who was educated in Northern Ireland, which was not covered by the report.
She said abusers should be prosecuted.
"In so far as there are people still alive who are responsible for these criminal acts then surely part and parcel of what comes out of the Ryan Report is and should be that they are brought before the proper authorities," said McAleese.
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