Paddy Doyle, the author of The God Squad and disability activist, has died at the age of 69. Mr Doyle, who developed the neurological condition dystonia, a movement disorder characterised by muscle contractions, spent many years in St Michael’s Industrial School in Cappoquin, Co Waterford. His mother died from breast cancer at the age of 43 and his father took his own life five weeks later. Mr Doyle was then sent to St Michael’s, an experience he wrote about in The God Squad which was published in 1988. His middle son, Niall, said The God Squad was “groundbreaking stuff” when it was first published and marked his father out as a fearless campaigner.

Source: The Irish Times October 12, 2020 08:17 UTC