The Tuam Mother and Baby Home’s reporting needs balance
Dear Editor, that was a very welcome article on Tuam Mother and Baby Home (The Irish Catholic, June 19). To date there has been mostly hostile overage and certainly no balance. You mentioned Brian Nugent, who has written, among other articles, a book on the Tuam Mother and Baby Home. That will be news to most people as it has been ignored in the media. I have mentioned it in several letters but it has been ignored. Like most sensitive subjects here, only one view is promoted.
I am glad that you pointed out that the official Commission of Investigation has confirmed that “Galway County Council was responsible for the burials” and, as far as I am aware, was also responsible for the adoption of children from the Home. It is good that it is acknowledged that the very high number of deaths was mainly due to very poor conditions and overcrowding and this was prior to antibiotics and vaccinations becoming available.
Hopefully, it is not too late to have factual and balanced reporting on the Tuam Mother and Baby Home and the forthcoming excavation and that it will be acknowledged that not everybody involved is happy that these excavations are taking place, and that the vilification of the nuns involved in the Home will cease.
Yours etc,
Mary Stewart
Ardeskin, Donegal Town.
The European Convention of Human Rights is in danger
Dear Editor, the announcement on May 22 by nine heads of government in the EU that they believe that the Strasbourg court has extended the European Convention of Human Rights into areas which were never envisaged by the original signatories to it, marks a significant development. This initiative, which was jointly promoted by Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister of Denmark and Giorgia Meloni PM of Italy, has garnered the support of Donald Tusk in Poland and is also backed by Austria, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.
The ECHR is in long term danger from judicial activism, as the court makes contentious interpretations of cases in areas such as environment, immigration, etc. It could be plausibly argued that this extension of the ECHR means that democracy in European countries is being thwarted and as a result, the credibility of the ECHR is being fundamentally undermined. That would be an unwelcome result.
The ECHR provides an important underpinning to the Belfast Agreement and the Irish Government must be concerned by the decision of the nine fellow EU states to seriously question the current attitude in the court.
Perhaps the Irish Government should consider joining this Danish/Italian initiative as a way of saving the ECHR from those seeking to engage in mission creep in Strasbourg.
Yours etc,
Ray Bassett
Castleknock, Dublin 15
A ‘thank you letter’ for a selfish society
Dear Editor, I wonder if TUSLA, the Department of Education, or Minister Helen McEntee have any idea how deeply condescending it is to have an ad campaign highlighting the importance of school.
This is Ireland. We know.
We fully appreciate it’s value – especially the teachers who happen to be parents of young people struggling to get to school and struggling while in school.
We also know why they’re struggling – or have a fair idea of why – as do those in well run schools where staff respond with empathy and sense.
And the knowledge does not come from data kindly provided by TUSLA. Indeed, I find myself writing some sharp words of ‘gratitude’…
Thank you for putting more pressure on parents.
Thank you for creating a society where it’s ok to blame the ‘mammy’, lecture her, judge her, look down the nose at her for just not trying hard enough or being positive. I’m saying ‘mammy’, as ‘parents’, or ‘fathers’ get nowhere near the same level of pressure and judgement. Men speak, people usually listen, women, or anyone else, speak… they might.
Thank you for creating a society where we don’t find out what the problem that is causing children and young people to avoid school is and just presume it’s because they’re not trying hard enough, or because mammy and daddy are too lenient, or don’t ‘understand’.
Thank you for creating a society where no one listens, one where we wilfully ignore guidelines that were put in place.
Thank you for creating a society where we no longer feel we have a duty to anyone but ourselves, where it is presumed that young people don’t need mentorship from the adults in their lives that aren’t their parents.
Is there a blue shirt in the wardrobe, perhaps?
Yours etc,
Sinéad Nic Mhathúna
Whitehall, Dublin 9.
A genuine and caring man
Dear Editor, the author and BBC broadcaster, Michael Ford, was an exceptional writer and communicator who had a PhD in Henri Nouwen, the great spiritual writer. In 1999 Mike Ford wrote his first book on Henri Nouwen entitled Wounded Prophet. It a was superb biography and I reviewed it for The Irish Catholic newspaper. Over the years since, Ford wrote many books on Henry Nouwen and, in fact, he became the President of the Henry Nouwen Society. He also wrote a wonderful book on Fr Mychal Judge who died in the World Trade Centre as he gave the Last Rites to a dying fire fighter.
I had the privilege of reviewing many of Mike Ford’s books for The Irish Catholic.
After a while we began to correspond and I found him to be an extremely kind and caring person with a strong religious faith. He would give sound advice, and he always asked about my health. He and his brother, Nigel, took care of their elderly mother with great love and devotion. When he came to conduct an interview in Dublin, he once stayed with me and we sat up till the early hours chatting about God and life in general.
In September last year, Mike’s dear mother died, and he and his brother were broken- hearted. Shortly after this Mike went into hospital with a seizure and suspected brain tumour. I wrote to him a number of times but got no reply. Today (May 21) was his birthday and I sent him greetings. I worried how he was.
I have just discovered that Mike died some months ago.
I found this out today on his birthday. I am very shocked.
Mike Ford was quite a prolific excellent writer and a genuinely good and caring man. He has now rejoined his beloved mother and father in God’s loving presence.
Thank you, Mike, for your wonderful friendship. You were a truly gifted writer.
Yours etc,
Anthony Redmond
Drimnagh, Dublin 12.
Misrepresentation of the Tuam babies’ case
Dear Editor, I refer to your article in your issue of June 19 regarding the Tuam babies’ search.
I recall an article in the Irish Catholic about five years ago on the same subject in which you outlined activities in that plot done by the Galway County Council. If my memory serves me correctly their work led to the displacement of all these bodies, and they were apparently never properly reinterred. This is what Catherine Corless has unearthed.
The Bon Secour sisters have suffered enough misrepresentation and deserve to have the facts as related by your paper in the earlier issue reprinted for public information sake.
The MSM got away far too easily with what I believe to be a serious misrepresentation of the facts in the Tuam Babies case.
Yours etc,
Patrick Pyne
Blarney, Cork.