Prime Minister Micheal Martin's apology came a day after the final report of an inquiry said 9,000 children died in 18 mother-and-baby homes -- which housed women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage -- during the 20th century. The inquiry was part of a process of reckoning in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Ireland, where church-run institutions were often tied to a history of abuse.
"They should not have been there," he said in Ireland's parliament. "The state failed you, mothers and children in these homes." Martin added: "We must learn the lesson that institutionalization creates power structures and abuses of power, and must never again be an option for our country in any circumstance."
The institutions came under intense scrutiny after historian Catherine Corless in 2014 tracked down the death certificates for nearly 800 children who died at a mother-and-baby home in western Ireland -- but could only find a burial record for one child.
Where is the Pope on this one. Just another issue that they will try to push under the rug. No respect for women and no remorse. Religion again proving it has long been nothing but sick cults.
The egregious effects wrought upon society by religion will never cease until we recognize it for what it is; not a virtue but a defect.
When are we going to apologize for out competing the Neanderthals?
Yet more profound wrong that the church tried to hide. It was profound cruelty.
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