Child protection - A battle that will never end

Some strands of history are inescapable, they live with us forever — and so they should. Just as we can’t choose our family we cannot choose our past, it is our undeniable, irreversible path to our present.

This week we were reminded that our backstory is not always one we can be proud of or one that we would happily repeat. Nevertheless, these reminders show that things have changed for the better — but not to the extent that we can be self-congratulatory or even content.

Thirty years ago today teenager Ann Lovett was found, just after she had given birth, at a grotto outside Granard, Co Longford. Her child was already dead and she died later that day in hospital. The tragedy would have gone unnoticed, like so many others swept under the carpet by a bullying, pious and cold Ireland, had a member of the public not contacted Sunday Tribune reporter Emily O’Reilly.