Unbelievably, this may be breaking news, but problems with Tuam orphanage have been known about by the Government since 1944.
"A 1944 government inspection recorded evidence of malnutrition among some of the 271 children then living in the Tuam orphanage alongside 61 unwed mothers."
It in disingenuous to put this down to the ethos of the time, or to say that we should be concentrating on what is happening today.
This is about the power wielded the Church over the State institutions which could have dealt with it at the time, but didn't.
Any sociaetal cruelty that existed in Ireland (or anywhere the church held sway) came from that power and to infer, as some people have, that ordinary people might have known it was happening, but did nothing, is beneath contempt.
The sooner the Church is removed from all State influence, especially in connection with children, the better.
Some years ago here were reports of a large number of unmarked and unregistered graves at another religious childrens' institution - I don't think it was Tuam.
It seems to have been forgotten in the rest of the avalanche of horrors.
Jim Carroll