Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One would have had to be made of stone not to have been moved by the bravery and resilience of Majella Moynihan as she told her story at the weekend on national radio. We are all aware of the legacy of cruelty of this State when it comes to the treatment of women. Majella was the perfect example of all things that Ireland looked down on.

Reared in an industrial school, pregnant out of wedlock and female, she was a veritable scarecrow, crucified for her perceived sins and displayed as a warning to others. She could not have been any more inferior to her superiors. What was permitted to be done to her by organs of this State, aided and abetted by the church and its acolytes, is a shame on us all. This woman had her life, reputation and son taken from her. She is due an official State apology, her full pension and some form of an attempt at compensation for all the pain and suffering that was visited upon her. This is the least that Majella Moynihan deserves.

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