NORTHERN IRELAND
Irish Times
Dan Keenan
A boy looked after by Sisters of Nazareth nuns at a home in Derry used to faint regularly during morning Mass because of hunger.
The Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry heard the boy, who has been giving testimony in person, was woken some time after 6am daily to serve at morning Mass. But he often passed out because he said he was always hungry.
The inquiry, which is investigating treatment of children at care homes across Northern Ireland before 1995, heard the witness confirm that while some nuns were pleasant, another was “a hateful bitch”.
She had “a built-in anger and hatred,” the witness told inquiry chairman Sir Anthony Hart.
“You could have no relationship whatsoever with her. You could say she was under pressure, but she really didn’t have to be because the boys were doing a good job in running the place and she should have had the life of Riley.”
He confirmed his statement, given earlier to the inquiry team, in which he referred to this nun as “a bully and very contolling”.
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