Sir, – Brendan Ó Cathaoir contends ("Civil War left in its wake a less caring society", Opinion & Analysis, August 27th) that mother and baby homes were "symptoms of a traumatised society" after the Civil War.
If this is the case, how does he explain the fact that mother and baby homes first appeared in England in 1891 under the guidance of the Salvation Army in London?
I would certainly agree that the Civil War was a traumatic event in Irish history but I doubt very much that it had any significant impact on social policy in Britain.
Attitudes to children born outside marriage and their mothers were much the same in the UK, US and Ireland during the latter half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.
Poverty may well have made their treatment worse here in Ireland, but Ireland was hardly unique in providing a cold welcome to children born outside of wedlock during the period in question. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS MULCONRY,
Ballinatone,
Greenane,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Brendan Ó Cathaoir is certainly right to identify the Civil War as contributing to a national trauma that affected generations of Irish men and women, and the church as having a particularly devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable and marginalised within Irish society.
The Treaty split and Civil War that soon followed it were indeed devastating, and resulted in many of the institutional and interpersonal loyalties that had been formed and reinforced in the preceding years being shattered or realigned, not always to the benefit of all Irish citizens, as Dr Ó Cathaoir identifies.
But it is important to recognise that republicanism was not the sole doctrine of the Irish people, and that a variety of traumas – some imposed by separatist nationalists – were playing out in different ways in Ireland at the time.
The isolation felt by many Irish civil servants is worth noting, as are the experiences of Irish veterans of the first World War who, in a different way, struggled to find their place in the new State.
Overall, I am thankful to have read the article and the online comments that ensued.
Trauma in Ireland is an unfortunately fruitful, if under-examined, theme in Irish history. – Yours, etc,
Prof JUSTIN
DOLAN STOVER, PhD
Idaho State University,
Yale Street,
Pocatello,
Idaho.