FILM-MAKER Louis Lent in, who made the documentary Dear Daughter, may make a sequel which would examine the lives of women after they left the Goldenbridge Orphanage.
The project, provisionally called Life After GB, will look at how the experience of being raised by the Mercy sisters affected their adult lives.
Mr Lent in was speaking alter a Dublin Film Festival seminar on "Scandal, Abuse and the Media" which examined Dear Daughter and Male Rape, recently screened by RTE. The seminar was chaired by Padraig O'Morain, Social Affairs Correspondent of The Irish Times.
Dear Daughter told a powerful story. Mr Lentin had received hundreds of calls, most of them positive.
The story took about two years to plan and about three to four weeks to shoot. It was a drama-documentary, he said, not journalism or current affairs. Most criticism of it had come from people who wanted him to make what would have been a totally different film.
Since its broadcast there had been a "series of battles" between the Mercy sisters and the victims, especially between Sister Helena O'Donoghue, the spokeswoman of the order, and Ms Christine Buckley, whose story was the basis of Dear Daughter.
The sisters had been offering a defence and counselling but it was not enough, he said. The bitterness would continue until both sides sat down and talked.
The programme was made first by recording Ms Buckley's story on sound tape. Other women were included to back up Ms Buckley. It was a simple film, one woman telling her story.
On the reaction to Dear Daughter, Mr Lent in was sad that there had been an element of "hunt the nun", and a desire to "make her accountable". Provided the Mercy sisters engaged in a process with the women who grew up in the orphanage, there was little to be gained from chasing one nun. "She was not alone. There were others, including older girls."
The women involved in making the documentary wanted to name everyone but then what, he asked. "Do you bring them all to justice?"
Given the length of time that had elapsed such a process would be almost impossible, he said. "Sister Xavieria has been named. Let's just leave it at that."
The women now feared the result of the programme, the highlighting of their experience, might be dissipated in an argument about numbers, about how many were treated badly and how many got better treatment. "that is not the issue."
There had to be be an open, non-judicial inquiry. The results should be published and a fund established, financed by the Mercy sisters and the State, to pay for counselling, "past, present and future", so that victims could go to she counsellor of their choice rather than one who could be chosen by the nuns.
Dear Daughter and Male Rape received funding from the Film Board. The former also received funds under Section 35 tax relief.