Fergus Finlay: Hard-fought apology shows just how great is the debt we owe industrial home survivors

Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan, and Maurice O’Connell went on hunger strike for justice for all survivors

Christine Buckley was given up to be fostered when she was three weeks old. She was raised in the Goldenbridge Orphanage in Dublin. Picture: James Horan

Mary never missed a Tuesday morning in the club. She made the journey every week, carrying her old bag of materials — wool, a box of threads, some scraps of material to work on, another wooden box of needles, all sorts and sizes.

For the first hour or so there was tea and biscuits, gossip and laughter, sometimes even the occasional row that needed sorting out.