Religious orders were yesterday urged to open their archives on industrial schools to all journalists and academics, as this was a matter of the gravest public interest, Frank Kilfeather writes.
The call was made by the authors of Suffer the Little Children: The Inside Story of Ireland's Industrial Schools, Mary Raftery (producer of the television programme States of Fear) and Dr Eoin O'Sullivan, of TCD.
They say it is unacceptable that these religious orders are allowed to "play politics" with information that should now be fully open to public scrutiny.
The authors claim it is now clear that certain orders which ran industrial schools were beginning to selectively release some of their archival material to certain journalists. They say these orders have refused to allow them access to their archives on industrial schools.
"The release to selected journalists of material designed to defend the record of the religious orders in running these schools risks a grave distortion of the public record as it applies to the serious issues raised in Suffer the Little Children."
In a statement, the authors say the behaviour of the religious orders in this area is in contrast to that of the State. The Department of Education opened its entire archive of policy files to them.