IRELAND
Irish Independent
GERARD O’REGAN – 20 JULY 2013
They were an unlikely duo to put it mildly – the alcoholic vagabond poet Patrick Kavanagh, and the austere, uncompromising, religious dictator of his time, Archbishop John Charles McQuaid.
And what brought them together was money.
Kavanagh famously abandoned the “stony grey soil of Monaghan” for what would prove to be a lifetime of relative poverty in the much documented 1950s’ Dublin literary scene.
But as he weaved those wonderful lines of poetry, which strike a chord with so many, he also indulged too many booze-filled evenings in the likes of McDaid’s, the Bailey, and the Palace bar. It meant his already precarious lifestyle, all too often, plummeted into the depths of abject poverty.
Meanwhile, up the road in Drumcondra, in the plush surroundings of what was termed his ‘Bishop’s Palace’, Archbishop McQuaid kept a beady eye on Kavanagh. The archbishop, of course, had his “vigilantes” scouring the capital for any kind of tittle-tattle, which would inform him of “immoral tendencies” by Catholics in positions of power or influence. …
Maybe another very individualistic approach to money matters is reflected in the attitude of the four religious orders, who this week point-blank refused a request from Justice Minister Alan Shatter to offer some money towards the Magdalene Laundries compensation fund.
The initial reaction from many quarters was one of anger and condemnation. How could those religious orders be so tight-fisted, given the blighted lives of so many who were in their care?
Surely they could even make a token gesture? They are not so hard up that this would be beyond them.
But the response to the minister from the nuns has been “no”, and a steely “no” at that. They will help out wherever necessary by way of providing documentation to help process compensation claims – but there will be no financial compensation forthcoming; the State can pick up the tab.
Could it be that these nuns believe they picked up the tab for the State during all those years when parents, politicians, priests and gardai so often connived to ensure they would be the ones to look after the forlorn and the destitute.
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