IRELAND
Irish Times
Patsy McGarry
Wed, Mar 12, 2014
Those who insist that history is about movements not individuals might reflect on the achievements of Christine Buckley.
Her story is history as driven by one person. She was an original, a pioneer in exposing how badly this State “cherished” many of its children, whatever their age, throughout most of the 20th century, up to 1996 when the last Magdalene laundry closed. If a high point of much of her work was then taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s 1999 apology on behalf of the State to all who had been in residential institutions as children, as well as his announcement then of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ryan Commission) and the setting up of the Residential Institutions Redress Board, it was not all.
It is no exaggeration to claim that such huge shift in the cultural axis of Ireland, made possible by Christine Buckley, paved the way for the Murphy Commission which investigated the handling of clerical sexual abuse allegations in Dublin and Cloyne dioceses, as well as the McAleese committee which investigated the Magdalene laundries. All were of piece
She was not alone in bringing these about but she was among the very first, the most consistent and most persistent in her determination that such truths should out so that survivors be helped. She ploughed through denial, denunciation and obfuscation to expose the rotten story of what went on in this State’s residential institutions for children.
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