The High Court has reserved judgment on an application by the Sisters of Mercy to prevent, on grounds of delay, an action for damages by a former resident of the Goldenbridge orphanage in Dublin.
The order claims there was unprecedented delay by Mrs Ellen Kelly (70), of Belcamp Gardens, Dublin, in bringing her action for damages for alleged physical and mental abuse at the hands of certain nuns at the orphanage. Mrs Kelly claims she was in the orphanage from 1934 to 1947 and was subjected to beatings and solitary confinement. She claims she has since suffered three nervous breakdowns.
Lawyers for the nuns have claimed Mrs Kelly's proposed action concerned incidents alleged to have occurred over 65 years ago. Any witnesses were dead, with the exception of an 82-year-old retired nun. She had dealt with hundreds of children at Goldenbridge and could not remember specific children, it was contended.
Yesterday, Mr David McGrath SC, for Mrs Kelly, said she was a resident at Goldenbridge from the age of three until she was 16 years old and had felt able to take the action only after receiving counselling.
It was not correct for the lawyers representing the Sisters of Mercy to claim the action was "out of time". That was a matter for the judge, counsel said. Whatever complaint might be made about the delay in issuing proceedings, there had been no inexcusable delay in prosecuting Mrs Kelly's claim.
There had been some delay because of a claim that there was no legal entity entitled the "Sisters of Mercy", he added. It had been argued that if Mrs Kelly wished to sue, she should sue a representative of the Sisters of Mercy, Goldenbridge.