I grew up an Irish Catholic when the word shame was a popular one. It is not a word I hear often these days, but I feel it now reading about the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.

State and Church seem equally responsible for turning a blind eye while helpless children in their care were systematically abused.

I haven’t been a Catholic for a very long time, but I am still Irish and I can only hope that the State does all it can to help those affected and ensure nothing like this ever happens again.