Sir, – How true is the old Irish saying “eaten bread is soon forgotten” in relation to a most dedicated group of Irish women and Irish men who served the Irish people with great self-sacrifice and dedication for nearly 200 years.
I refer to the thousands of Irish religious sisters and religious brothers, living and dead. These were the people who provided practically free primary and secondary education for generations of young people in this country and also in the third world countries.
They worked 24/7, as the saying goes, and being fully qualified as teachers their salaries were ploughed into the building and maintenance of excellent schools.
Other categories of sisters built and staffed hospitals and caring centres for young and old throughout Ireland, which again were provided through their salaries.
To the shame of our national media, the focus has in recent times being completely on the failures of a minority of religious working in orphanages and Magdalene homes.
Fair and just analysis of the scenario confronting religious in these far-off days would have taken account of the fact that the State authorities leaned on the goodwill of religious while abrogating their own responsibility to provide social services and then shamefully provided very frugal financial support compared to the generous assistance available in other jurisdictions.
We should also recall that there was a lack of statutory specialised training in bygone years for child care and that today there is intensive and adequate training of child care workers.
We await the day when print and broadcast media outlets will focus on the outstanding work of Irish religious, unprecedented in other countries, which has brought recognition and credit to Ireland internationally. –Yours, etc,
Fr CON McGILLICUDDY,
Sacred Heart Residence,
Sybil Hill Road,
Raheny,
Dublin 5.