The Irish Times described the report as “the map of an Irish hell” and cautioned readers to remember that “alongside the warmth and intimacy, the kindness and generosity of Irish life, there was, for most of the history of the State, a deliberately maintained structure of vile and vicious abuse”. In large part, the rate of coercive confinement can be explained by the State’s commitment to a form of national life that emphasised the family farm as a fundamental unit of social organisation. As a result, the institutions of coercive confinement – with the exception of the prison – declined greatly in significance. Disjointed thinkingThe first is to think in terms of remembering the harms of coercive confinement in general rather than proceeding on an institution-by-institution basis. The second is to extend the debate beyond the respective roles of church and State to include how Irish families contributed to the longevity of the system.

Source: The Irish Times May 20, 2019 01:07 UTC