Abuse survivors - Why Áras visit means so much

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese has struck the right note in representing the solidarity of the Irish people with the survivors of institutional abuse by giving them a truly warm welcome at Áras an Uachtaráin.

It was totally fitting that the Head of State of a country which had turned a blind eye to the terrible treatment of children in religious institutions should throw open the doors of the Áras to the victims of one of the darkest chapters in our history.

For the 280 representatives of eight organisations, the occasion had enormous significance because, as their spokesman John Kelly put it, they were denied their constitutional rights and never valued as children. For them, the Constitution had meant nothing.