Sir, - As a former inmate of Artane in the 1950s, when, I believe, the abuse which has come to the fore in the RTE programme "States of Fear" was at its worst, I wish to congratulate Fintan O'Toole on his wonderful "telling-it-as-it-was" article on May 14th.
The sentiments contained therein could not have been stated better had they come "straight-from-the-horses-mouth". They were all that I, and, I am sure, the majority of ex-Artane boys, would love to have been able to say - had we been given the ability to do so. Personally, I have wanted to write to your publication in response to the RTE programme, but lack of a perceived inability prevented me from doing so. This lack of self-belief is endemic in former institutionalised children, as we were always told that we were to blame for our own situation and, to paraphrase many of the Brothers, " would never be any good". On the whole, we have been under-achievers. Find me a top politician, anybody in the judiciary, anybody in the top professions, a successful businessman, etc., who was institutionalised. One would be hard-pressed to do so. The incarceration and the abuse produced a mental state which brought out the worst in those children in adult life. On leaving the institutions, they found themselves at the bottom of the society ladder, and did not have the ability to climb up that ladder, in the majority of cases.
That, I believe, has been the outcome of the system which has now been highlighted. The media has concentrated on what has happened but failed to investigate the consequences of what happened. - Yours, etc., Peter Pallas,
Co Clare.