Was independence worth the suffering?

AFTER the reports on residential institutional abuse in the diocese of Ferns and now Dublin, one can only conclude that 80 years of church rule was a nightmare compared with the 800 years of British rule which preceded it.

Many Irish nationalists must now be wondering whether independence was worth the suffering it caused to so many Irish children.

These reports prove beyond doubt that the church is morally unfit to be the patron of any Irish school. It is morally obscene to allow a church with a proven track record of child abuse to control the moral education of children.

If Ireland had been a secular state which viewed religion with suspicion, would the church have been allowed to abuse so many children for so long?

So instead of seeing secularism as the enemy of religion, perhaps it is its saviour.

Trying to praise the good priests is like saying that not all SS were concentration camp guards. Many of these good priests were happy to condemn evils like contraception, divorce, homosexuality and cohabitation over the years, and yet were reluctant to condemn the evil of child abuse by their fellow-priests.

And a sculpture with some mealy-mouthed words of non-apology is no longer an adequate memorial to commemorate the evil that was inflicted on so many Irish children. We need a constitutional amendment which unambiguously enshrines the rights of the child, rights which are superior to the rights of others, especially the state and church.

An amendment would allow every voter help build a memorial which commemorates the victims, while legally compelling the state and church to ensure this evil never happens again.

Jason FitzHarris

Rivervalley

Swords

Co Dublin