Fergus Finlay: Mother and baby homes redress scheme must be run by women for women

Ireland has another national debt, to the victims and survivors of mother and baby homes — and it is women who should lead the scheme to right those wrongs

'The Missing Children' on RTÉ reminded us of the cruelty, neglect, and sheer callousness suffered by women in the mother and baby homes, and the children who were taken from them. Stock picture

What is Ireland’s national debt really? In my head, it’s about an awful lot more than money. Sure, we have a mountain of financial debt as a country. But the real debts we owe are much deeper than that. They are debts that maybe can never be adequately repaid, debts that will hang on our shoulders for ever.

Let’s dispose of the money first. There’s the debt accumulated as a result of the bad politics and terrible choices that led to the banking collapse. Then there’s the huge amount that has had to be borrowed to get us through the pandemic — and that’s far from over, as we know.