Irish Examiner journalist praised for coverage
“Those members who read the Irish Examiner will be aware that at the march of solidarity to Dáil Éireann on Wednesday boy No 117 met boy No 146.
They had not seen each other for 40 years and they recalled their memories of St Joseph’s Industrial School, Salthill, Co Galway.
I read the moving report of that meeting by the journalist, Caroline O’Doherty, yesterday and thank her for writing about this encounter because I know survivor No 117 who lives in my constituency and is now 59 years of age.
In their exchange of memories boy No 117 said he remembered when boy No 146 took his last bit of bread. Boy No 146 told boy No 117 that he remembered him having got such a beating from the Brothers he thought he was dead.
Sadly, after 40 years these two men do not feel comfortable in making their identities public. Boy No 117, as he says himself, was born out of wedlock. He had been cared for in a loving environment in Drogheda by the nuns as a tiny child but was treated brutally and savagely when he went to Salthill.
When he left that institution at the age of 15 he inquired about his mother and was told by the Christian Brother, “You are a bastard. Your mother does not want you“.
Those words still affect him psychologically. He did meet his mother and he was rejected as he refused to go to London with her.
He was placed in a psychiatric hospital. He went on, at the age of 17, to work on a farm at Roscrea College where his life turned for the better.
He said that his crucifixion had ended but he has suffered ever since.
I join with Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, and all members in apologising to boy No 117 and all the children who were horrifically abused in this State during the dreadful dark period of our history covered by this report.
I feel a sense of shame, having lived through that period as a young boy.
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