Sir, – The unfolding story of the Tuam mother and baby home makes for grim reading. While society as a whole must share in the responsibility for how the most vulnerable in society were treated, it must also be a positive thing that we are now examining our past and recent failures in a more honest and open way. Perhaps it is important too not to merely look for scapegoats but ways to show recompense to those who suffered and to ensure that modern organisations tasked with caring for the most vulnerable do so. But all large, uniform organisations can breed inhumanity. – Yours, etc,
FRANK BROWNE,
Dublin16.
Sir, – The barbaric treatment carried out in the Tuam mother and baby home in the name of Catholicism must be condemned absolutely by every Catholic still adhering to this dying cruel, institution. The perverse Catholic theology which still condemns sex outside marriage and the use of artificial contraception as gravely sinful still remains official teaching. It was this cold, condemnatory attitude that underpinned the appalling treatment of young pregnant women and the disposal of children’s bodies in a sewerage system. Thankfully the covered up nightmare of barbarity inflicted on our rejected Irish unmarried mothers and their children has come to light and with it a final nail in the coffin of Irish Catholicism. – Yours, etc,
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BRENDAN BUTLER ,
Malahide, Co Dublin.
A chara, – Diplomatic relations with the Holy See need to be suspended. A clear message needs to be sent to the church in Rome that these actions were never acceptable at any time. The viewpoint put forward by some Irish bishops that although the actions in the Bon Secours home were reprehensible the existence of the mother and baby homes were as a result of or part of the culture at that time. What they fail to say is that Irish culture was set by the Catholic Church. The church ruled by fear and their reach was far and wide, with the strongest of influences in state affairs. Enough is enough. Suspend diplomatic ties until we as a nation can unearth the truth about what happened in Tuam and elsewhere and until we decide what relationship we want with the church in future. – Is mise,
KILLIAN BRENNAN,
Dublin 17.
Sir, – Shouting abuse at the Catholic Church achieves nothing. The dreadful discoveries at Tuam demand precise and bias-free examination. It is vitally important that any assessment is undertaken in the context of the period and with the objective of ensuring that such events are never repeated.
The infant mortality rate in Ireland during the 1930s and 1940s was high, peaking at over 80 per 1,000 live births in the mid 1940s. This is the only yardstick that can be used to determine if deaths at Tuam were due to factors other than the norm.
That said, the treatment of women was unforgivable and we are duty bound to strenuously question everything emanating from those entities, lay or otherwise, whose views contributed to the adoption of practices that bore down so severely on women; mostly from the same part of the socioeconomic ladder. Money looked after its own.
By far the biggest single cause of death among infants in the first part of the 20th century was gastroenteritis caused by poor sanitation and overcrowded living accommodation. The 1947 Health Act aimed to eliminate what was called “the urban infant mortality penalty” caused largely by the conditions in towns and cities. Slum clearance was accelerated with social housing programmes across the State and sanitation issues addressed by, among other things, improved access to an efficient, local authority-run, waste collection and disposal services.
When we fail to learn from history the price is usually very high, yet in recent decades the two main political parties have pursued policies which have turned the clock back in all these areas. Vital services, and access to utilities, have been outsourced to facilitate profit-making. We now have reached the state where most people will struggle all their lives to keep a quality roof over their heads, houses are now gambling chits instead of homes. Many households already cannot afford to access waste-collection services and while the danger of creating a barrier to water via charges appears to have lessened, that threat most certainly hasn’t gone away.
There are thousands of children in the here and now forced to carry the burden of the economic collapse whose lives are being ruined as we speak. In time, when the consequences of how we are now treating our young comes back to haunt us, there will, most likely, be no “church” to blame. Damning legacies are made and are still in the making, unfortunately. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.
Sir, – As the son of one of the residents of the Bon Secours home in Tuam, who still has contact with some former residents, I have issues with the story of the “discovery” of a mass grave.
We always knew as a family that the plot currently in the news was where the babies who died in the home were buried. That was common knowledge.
The public record also shows that about 800 babies or young children were registered as having died in the home over a period of 35 years. So even without any technological examination of the site, it was clear that there had to be about 800 remains buried there. The coincidence of the number of the deaths recorded at the home and the number of remains buried at the site is what you would expect. Had only 200 deaths been recorded and 800 been discovered, for example, then it would indeed be real news. What in fact the recent examination has done is just confirm the information already available. Nothing new has been discovered. – Yours, etc,
PAUL CHURCHILL,
Glasnevin, Dublin 9.