Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Religious campaigner Míne Bean Uí Chribín dies aged 85

Prominent religious campaigner Míne Bean Uí Chribín has died at the age of 85.

She achieved a degree of notoriety in the 1980s and 90s for her extreme views on Catholicism and church teachings.

She was a regular guest on the Late Late Show when it was hosted by Gay Byrne. 

She denounced Pope John Paul and the Catholic hierarchy as heretics.

She castigated anyone who advocated divorce, abortion or contraception, and once referred to unmarried mothers as ''mistresses''.

Mrs Bean Uí Chribín was also involved in a High Court injunction in 2000, which stopped the HSE taking a Roscommon woman’s six children into care.

She supported the woman in court. 

The mother was later jailed for seven years for neglect. 

The incident came to be known as the ''Roscommon House of Horrors'' case.

The abuse was allowed to continue for a further four years until the children were finally taken into care in 2004.