A DECISION by the DPP not to prosecute former staff members of a Co Cork orphanage has angered the women who made complaints that they were physically abused while living there.
On Friday last Mrs Mary Phil Porter (nee Drennan), of Midleton, received a letter informing her of the decision. She and 15 other former residents of the Rushbrooke Orphanage in Cobh alleged they were ill treated during the 1950s and 1960s.
She said she was absolutely livid when she learned of it.
"I could not believe it and my immediate thought was for the other girls who had suffered such trauma in reliving their experiences when they made their statements to the guards." Their statements were given about nine months ago.
"A lot of the girls went through hell at that time and they're worse off now after receiving the severe kick in the teeth from the authorities," said Mrs Porter.
Mrs Porter spent all her childhood and teenage years in the orphanage, from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Even before life in the Goldenbridge Orphanage was highlighted in an RTE documentary earlier this year Mrs Porter, writing as Ms Drennan, had completed a book, You May Talk Now, which was published in September 1994.
This described ill treatment she said she and other children suffered in the orphanage, which was run by the Sisters of Mercy.
"We were beaten with straps and wooden spoons, our hair was pulled and we went through hell," she said. She recalled that bed wetting was a major offence and that those who wet their beds had to stand at the breakfast table the following morning with the smelly sheets over their heads.
Some of the girls who were sick at the table had their vomit force fed to them.
"We went through all this hell and now we are left with nothing. We made our complaints to the guards and spent hours making statements.
"All we received for all the trouble in highlighting what had happened to us was a cold official letter stating that the DPP was not proceeding with the prosecution. We received no explanations, no reasons for the decision, absolutely nothing."
Mrs Porter said she intends to contact public representatives with a view to having the matter raised in the Dail, and she will be writing to the President, Mrs Robinson, about the matter, enclosing a copy of her book.
Sister McCarthy, a member of the leadership team of the Southern Provincial of the Sisters of Mercy, said. "From the information we have of the Rushbrooke orphanage at that time, we are satisfied that nothing occurred that would merit a prosecution."