THE Bishop of Waterford and Lismore has said that he is "ashamed and upset" to read the findings of the report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.
Fairness and justice is what the women and girls in Mother and Baby Homes should have got but didn't, Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan has said, and "on behalf of Our Lord", he wanted to say a "heartfelt sorry".
"These are the personal stories of women and girls who were horribly treated, many of them, first by the fathers who got them into trouble, their own families and then, where they should have got love and respect from there, and often didn't, in Mother and Baby Homes," he said.
"The stories we've heard are harrowing, gut wrenching," he told Damien Tiernan, adding that he was thankful that attitudes towards single mothers - who had been abandoned by the fathers of their children - had changed.
Asked about whether the church accepted responsibility for what had happened, he said it did and he acknowledged "some awful things" were done in the name of Christ, including treating other human beings as trash which was "inexcusable".
Further asked about whether there should be criminal investigations into those who perpetrated physical abuse against women and babies, he said "I think, yes", adding "these kind of specific things can be investigated again going forward".
The Bishop was speaking about the harrowing revelations contained in the report which has exposed a very dark chapter in Ireland's history in which 9,000 children died and their unmarried mothers faced horrific abuse.
Later today in the Dail, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is due to apologise on behalf of the State to the survivors.
You can listen back to Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan on Deise Today this morning by clicking below here...
Meanwhile, you can listen back to the full Deise Today from this morning by clicking below here...
