Eoghan Harris (Independent)

I abhor the kind of anti-clericalism which seizes on atrocities such as this. However, as one born and reared as a Roman Catholic, I ask is there something special in the religion of my childhood that allowed this systemic abuse. At first glance, it would appear there is. Although there was a large proportion of Protestant children in institutional care in the Republic, abuse of them was very rare. I remember reading in the Cork Examiner how when Protestant children would get out of orphanages in Kerry, local Protestant shopkeepers would look after children when they were on the run.

In Northern Ireland, institutional abuse of Protestant children was very rare, apart from the Kincora incident, and almost unknown in Roman Catholic institutions. There is not something inherently bad about Roman Catholicism but there is clearly something inherently bad about Roman Catholicism's relationship with the Irish Republic.