Majella Moynihan was punished because we wanted her to be

Gerard Howlin The deeply moving case of Majella Moynihan, predictably channelled public anger towards a “them”, but away from us. This is a recurring phenomenon as searing stories of our past — often an uncomfortably recent one — emerge. It legitimises a false narrative. It perpetuates a sense of powerlessness then, the better to whitewash responsibility now.

The deeply moving case of Majella Moynihan, predictably channelled public anger towards a “them”, but away from us. This is a recurring phenomenon as searing stories of our past — often an uncomfortably recent one — emerge. It legitimises a false narrative. It perpetuates a sense of powerlessness then, the better to whitewash responsibility now.

There was a “them”, in the sense of an all-male top brass in An Garda Síochána. There was a still very powerful Church, though they don’t seem to have been the villains in this plot. But the morals, I should say the hypocrisy, brutally enforced on Majella Moynihan, was wholly our own.