FORMER PRESIDENT OF Ireland Mary McAleese has spoken out about the “state of terror” facing children due to the historic use of corporal punishment in Irish schools, following devoted coverage to the issue by Joe Duffy’s radio show.
She revealed she had faced poor treatment herself during her schooldays at the hands of “violent” and “explosive” headmistresses.
On RTÉ Radio One’s Liveline today, McAleese spoke to presenter Joe Duffy about the use of corporal punishment in Irish schools.
For two weeks now Liveline has heard harrowing testimony from many victims of physical beatings in Irish schools over decades until corporal punishment was banned in 1982.
The programmes were spurred by the release of the Scoping Inquiry report earlier this month, outlining more than 2,000 historical allegations of child sexual abuse.
McAleese said the details of violence faced by schoolchildren was “heartbreaking” to hear.
The Belfast native further questioned why the Vatican has not “replied to the likes of Ryan and Murphy (reports) by an internal investigation”, after they detailed the response of the Catholic Church to abuse.
Asked by Duffy if she had been beaten herself she replied that she had been. She said:
“We had a headmistress who was a horrible woman and a vice headmistress who was equally violent. They were two very explosive, nasty women. I was in a state of terror most days in primary school.”
McAleese, who has a doctorate in Catholic canon law, said the Church remains in “utter denial about the impact its teaching had on that culture” in schools.
“It was let get out of control. How often was anyone taken to task for over-stepping the mark,” McAleese added.