Photo: ReutersIrish Prime Minister Micheál Martin has formally apologised for the state's "profound failure" in its treatment of unmarried mothers and their babies in a network of Catholic Church-run homes from the 1920s to the 1990s. A government-commissioned report published on Tuesday found an "appalling" mortality rate of around 15% among children born at the homes, reflecting brutal living conditions. "On behalf of the government, the state and its citizens, I apologise for the profound generational wrong visited upon Irish mothers and their children who ended up in a Mother and Baby Home or a County Home," Martin told parliament on Wednesday. The head of the Irish Catholic Church on Tuesday "unreservedly" apologised for its role. The head of the Irish Catholic Church unreservedly apologised to survivors and praised their determination to bring to light "a dark chapter in the life of Church and society."

Source: Otago Daily Times January 14, 2021 01:07 UTC