Suzanne Harrington: We're repeating historical wrongs day in and day out

You’ve probably heard this already, but here’s the current Taoiseach on mother and baby ‘homes’ (where, in this instance, ‘home’ is Irish for ‘gulag’): "We must learn the lesson that institutionalisation creates power structures and abuses of power, and must never again be an option for our country in any circumstance.” Spot on. God forbid we would ever again make any marginalised group suffer alienation and dehumanisation via institutionalised power structures that leave them open to abuse. That’d never happen anymore, would it lads?

He goes on: “The shame was not theirs: it was ours. It was our shame that we did not show them the respect and compassion that we owed them. It remains our shame.” Indeed. Not showing respect and compassion to those who need it most would be deeply shameful. Wouldn’t it lads?