Former victims praise Ahern's honesty

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was praised for his candour by former residents of institutions yesterday.

Ms Christine Buckley, of the Aislinn Centre, and Ms Bernadette Fahy, who had been in the Goldenbridge orphanage in Dublin, said after he had given his evidence that the Taoiseach had been exceptionally honest. He had told it exactly as it happened and did not embellish anything.

Ms Buckley recalled that while receiving counselling in 1988, she visited a former resident of Goldenbridge at a psychiatric hospital where she discovered two other former residents in the ward.

"It had a terrible effect on me," she said.

She sought meetings with politicians and officials but made no headway. Then in 1992 she was interviewed by Gay Byrne on RTE radio and "the phones hopped".

In February 1996, RTE broadcast the Dear Daughter programme about Goldenbridge.This documentary allowed Ms Buckley and other women to tell of the physical and mental abuse they were subjected to at Goldenbridge. Afterwards more people who had been in institutions came forward.

Almost 600 attended a day for former residents at the RDS in October 1996, she said.

In early 1999, out of frustration at repeated "one-liner" replies from politicians, she, Ms Fahy and Ms Carmel McDonnell Byrne, who had also been in Goldenbridge, went directly to the Department of Education to see the Minister for Education, Mr Martin, who agreed to meet them.

They brought along boxes containing about 500 "one-liner" letters from politicians.

It was at this meeting they asked to be believed.

In his recent testimony to the committee, Mr Martin spoke of the profound effect the meeting had on him.

He met the women again within 24 hours, and within a few days they met him again with the Taoiseach.

A series of meetings with both men followed, including the one at the Sycamore Rooms to which Mr Ahern referred yesterday.

Ms Buckley said they had been told about Mr Ahern's plans for a public apology between 10 to 14 days before it happened.

They had also been told in advance about other Government measures, including plans for a redress scheme. It was "a bolt out of the blue. We had never, ever discussed money," she said.