The first public sitting by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was an occasion of enormous significance. It represents an acknowledgment by what might be termed "Official Ireland" of the need to look, with open eyes and in detail, at what happened to children who were taken into care since the 1940s. That fact should not be lost amid the criticisms of groups which represent some of the people who went through that system.
The pain that was visited on some children and their families when the care system was less accountable than it is now, was so great that it is little wonder they distrust the inquiry set up by the State which incarcerated them in the first place.
Clearly, there are issues which still need to be sorted out. One is the question of how the former residents of institutions should be legally represented. Ms Justice Laffoy has suggested a single team of barristers to represent all former residents. Some groups have protested at this idea; another group has welcomed it.
The groups representing former residents must make full use of this opportunity to get a full, official statement of the institutional arrangements which allowed mistreatment to take place. They must be absolutely determined to influence the working of the Commission so that it conforms to what they regard as fair and adequate. After all, there can be little doubt that religious orders and government departments have also worked to protect what they see as their own legitimate interests.
This will be a difficult time for people in religious life, who will again find themselves tarred by the actions of a minority. The wider society might bear in mind, though, that the Commission will inquire into abuse in schools, orphanages, hospitals and children's homes - but not in the family or by neighbours, employers, sports coaches or group leaders in club situations. Much abuse happened - and continues to happen - outside the walls of institutions.
The concept of residential care must not be undermined by the revelations at the Commission. Well-funded residential care in an accountable system is badly needed by children who have been damaged by what has happened to them in their families and whose needs cannot be met by foster families. The people who work with these children deserve to be rewarded and respected for the work they do.
The former residents of institutions and hospitals have achieved a great deal in getting to the point reached yesterday. If all of them can find a way to work with the Commission, they will build on that achievement by getting their stories into the official record and by exposing the factors which allowed their mistreatment to occur.