When the children of Ireland were being abused and beaten in the industrial schools of this country for decades, it all happened in black and white. And because things happened in black and white, they seemed less real. Almost as if they have to be proven to have happened at all. The cameras were not there for those terrible deeds that happened to the vulnerable of this country up to not so long ago and so they did not have the same imprint on the mind if they would if they were captured on video for us to watch over and over again.
And while the offences that took place then were far worse than those displayed on our screens this week, the shock today is even greater. For all of us watching and cringing as each 21st century child was picked up and flipped down on a mattress or picked up and slammed down into a chair, or strapped into a chair and left there for hours, or screamed at with obscenities for just doing what children do, imagine how it felt for those parents who could see the screen and recognise their own children. It is no wonder the programme is not being repeated. It is no wonder that media have been asked not to reprint stills. What impact will this behaviour have on the children involved? How will they absorb the humiliation forced upon them in a place where they expected to be cared for? Their loss of attachment, their trust of adults, their ability to befriend. It is sad too that they were not in any position to tell others of the abuses, in the same way that the elderly abused in nursing homes had to suffer in silence.
There isn’t a parent in Ireland who got a good night’s sleep on Tuesday night after watching the programme. While I have just direct experience of one crèche, it is a truly loving environment where the carers do what their job title says — care. Where the children are truly cherished and where the staff have been chosen for their aptitude for being tolerant to the demands of small children. And the same can be said for the vast majority of crèches across the country.
Yesterday morning thousands of crèche staff went to work knowing that parents arriving for the drop-off would be looking at them differently, silently wondering if things change once they drive away and leave their beloved child in the care of others.
While there is a serious need for the State to get its inspection regime in order, the improvement of standards can come about from parents and from management.
It is incumbent on parents to be more curious about the care they are promised when they hand over the money. Are things normal when they call unexpectedly. If there were no cots visible, why do they believe their child was napping in a cot? Call at different times and ask to see the daily diary, a practice which has now been exposed as a sham. Is it a place where the carers know the names of the children and see them as people and not just units in a money-making exercise. Ask for the proof of these things and spot-check them. Don’t be fooled by the hard-sell. Well done to RTE for making this programme. Alone, it is probably worth the licence fee.
Its images will haunt parents across the country for ever.
