Nuns apologise unconditionally

2004-05-05 18:38

Dublin - One of the Roman Catholic orders at the centre of an unfolding child abuse scandal in Ireland apologised unconditionally on Wednesday to those who suffered harm as youngsters in its care.

In a statement, the Sisters of Mercy said it accepted unreservedly that many of those who had spent their youth in its orphanages and industrial schools in Ireland had been "hurt and damaged while in our care".

"We have in the past publicly apologised to you. We know that you heard our apology then as conditional and less than complete," said the statement, read aloud at a press conference by Sister Breege O'Neill.

"Now, without reservation, we apologise unconditionally to each one of you for the suffering we have caused."

The apology from the Sisters of Mercy came as a judicial inquiry, set up four years ago, pursues its probe into some 3 000 complaints of abuse in childcare institutions run by the Catholic church dating back to the 1940s.

It also coincided with the 21st day of a hunger strike by 57-year-old abuse victim outside the Irish parliament in Dublin over compensation for the suffering he endured.

Until 1996 the Sisters of Mercy operated Ireland's so-called Magdalene Asylums, depicted in the controversial 2001 film "The Magdalene Sisters", where girls were made to wash laundry under the watch of stern nuns.

- AFP