ONE of the people most stunned by the revelations of cruelty to the orphans in the Convent of Mercy at Goldenbridge, Dublin was PD leader Mary Harney. She was educated at the school attached to the orphanage from age 10 to 14. She remembers meeting the girls but little else about them.
"I was really shocked at what I've heard. I was totally unaware of what was going on. It was a very strict school, we had to sit in class at the lunch break and didn't even go out to play," she said.
Tomorrow Ms Harney delivers the closing address at the annual seminar of the Women's Political Association in Jurys, Ballsbridge. The theme is "European Influences on the Advancement of Women in Ireland" and the little-heard women's view on the peace process will come from the SDLP's Brid Rodgers and the official unionist Sylvia McRoberts.
The PD leader has come a long way since Goldenbridge.