A SUPPORT group for former residents of orphanages who claim to have been abused by staff is to be formed in Munster. It will draw up a plan of action to highlight the alleged abuse of children in orphanages from the 1950s to the early 1970s.
The initiative follows a decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions not to prosecute former staff members of Rushbrook Orphanage in Cobh, Co Cork. Led by Mrs Mary Phil Porter, of Midleton, 15 to 20 women made complaints to gardai in Cobh earlier this year about physical abuse in the orphanage. Last Friday, they, along with members of the Mercy Order who run the orphanage, received letters saying the DPP had decided not to proceed with prosecutions in the case.
Mrs Porter said yesterday many of the women did not know where to turn now and she had received many calls seeking advice. "We are not looking for vengeance or revenge against the nuns. We just want to know that justice has finally been done."
Mrs Porter added that the women felt aggrieved by a statement from the Mercy Order that nothing had occurred in the Orphanage which would merit a prosecution.
"We are receiving so many cries for help from the women who were reared in that place. If the staff members at the centre of the abuse would just admit they were wrong and that they were sorry for what was done to us, many of us could finally find peace," she said.