Abuse of innocent children

For all of the laudable success in the work to improve community relations and welfare across Ireland, disturbing challenges to progress have an uncanny knack of reappearing.

A couple of recent examples highlight issues of concern.

Last night's BBC television national news, (Oct 15 at 10 pm) for instance, led with dramatic and shocking reports of the sentencing of Jeffrey Donaldson to 15 years in prison.  The newscaster referred to this fall from grace with some emphasis -  he was "a leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and a giant of Ulster Protestantism."   The sentencing follows his having been found guilty of sex abuse against two women when they were children, one of which charges includes rape.  

The broadcaster's words, coupled with the DUP's own uniquivocal condemnation of its former leader, underline serious ramifications for politics in Northern Ireland and also for Christianity. For both it is an unenviably bad advertisement.  What exacerbates the nature of the crimes in law and which are also sinful acts religiously, is that his victims were innocent children at the times.  

Moreover, the convict has remained steadfastly unapologetic to them.  Rather than admit guilt, he put them both through the additional torture of a lengthy trial in defending his actions.  Their pain could continue and magnify given reports revealing that he is seeking leave to appeal.

Lest anyone may consider the former Peer of the Realm's actions to be somehow less criminal than the Court has found, this further report from the broadcaster documents real details from his "Dawn arrest to descent into disgrace" and on "how his victims exposed Jeffrey Donaldson's lies," making for disturbing if emphatic reading (1).

Another upsetting example with implications for comunity welfare emerges from an unlikely source, the release of a powerful new film in cinemas across Ireland and the UK.  "The Lost Children of Tuam" highlights the results of tireless work by a housewife and community historian into a Mother and Baby Home in rural County Galway.  It relates to the treatment of unmarried mothers and their babies by the nuns of the Bon Secours Order between 1925 and 1961.  The film deals more specifically with the horror of trying to discover mass graves of illegitimate children.

The Guardian's review by Cath Clarke (2), for example, describes "the amateur historian Catherine Corless, superbly played by Monica Dolan" adding that "up to 796 tiny bodies were thrown away, some in an old sewage tank."  This is a movie "produced by Liam Neeson and based on a 2017 New York Times article."  Eventually, as the review states, Corless obtains nearly 800 death certificates but cannot find burial records for the babies - there are no graves.  

Tuam - site of former Mother & Baby Home

Clarke's review says this film is the opposite of a difficult watch, instead it's hard to look away.  Apart from her praise of Dolan in the lead role, she also compliments the actors playing survivors, neglected and abused by nuns and now in their late middle age.  This reflects my opinion - a better film than this I will not see this year.

Readers may recall the subsequent Public Inquiry into the broader issue of Mother and Baby Homes established by the Irish Government in February 2015 and its report six years later (3). It examined what happened to vulnerable women and children in various Mother and Baby Homes during a longer period, 1922-1998. 

The BBC, for example, reminds us (4) that the inquiry concluded that 9,000 children died in the 18 institutions investigated, about 15% of all the children who lived in the homes.  Among other things, it quotes the then Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny as saying that babies born to unmarried mothers were treated "as an inferior subspecies" for decades in Ireland.  The film's use of RTÉ news extracts and of old black and white photos of mothers and babies added stark realism to its impacts.

The Commission also appealed for information about Bessborough House in Cork where more than 900 children died.  On publication of the Inquiry's final report in January 2021, Taoiseach Micheál Martin issued a formal apology to former residents of the homes on behalf of the State.  He added that "we had a completely warped attitude to sexuality and intimacy, and young mothers, their sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction."

One begins to think of this being, like the Jeffrey Donaldson affair, an event which is a shocking advertisement for politics, for Christianity, for Ireland.

In response to the final report, the Sisters of Bon Secours offered their "profound apologies" to all the women and children who lived at the Tuam home, their families and to the people of Ireland.  The order (not before time, my words) admitted that it "had not lived up to our Christianity when running the home.... We acknowledge in particular that infants and children who died at the home were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way. For all that we are deeply sorry."  The order confirmed that it will take part in a redress scheme.

© Michael McSorley 2026

References

1. BBC News website 15 Oct 2026

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6d7qv2pv2e8o

2. The Guardian Cath Clarke 6 Oct 2026 "The Lost Children Of Tuam - deeply serious retelling of Ireland's devasting tragedy" 

https://share.google/j6w9vZqUf2K01FmJT

3. Department of Children Disability and Equality Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes 12 Jan 2021, updated 22 Nov 2021

 www.gov.ie https://share.google/eVfqL7POH8ptgCHlD

4. BBC News website 13 Jan 2021 Irish mother and baby homes: Timeline of controversy 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54693159