Irish Child Abuse Stories Surfacing

“My time there was just hell. There was just real coldness in there, no love was ever displayed and that is so difficult and confusing for a young child who has just been separated from her family. They wouldn’t even let me speak to my sister which might have helped. Anytime I saw her through the railings in the segregated playground, we were pulled away from each other if we tried to talk or hold hands.

“We were treated like child slaves being made to scrub the floors, windows and walls. It was like something out of a Dickens’ book. We were just little children and we were on our hands and knees scrubbing floors. I can still remember the smell of that orange wax and carbolic soap.

“My whole life there was lived in fear — fear of the next beating, the next humiliation. I was made to feel worthless, that I was a bad person and I kept those beliefs with me my whole life. I remember one day being beaten the whole way to a cupboard by one of the Sisters. When she got me there she kept beating me with a stick and telling me I was evil and a liar and the worst type of person that walked the earth. When I cried she battered me even more, telling me to stop crying. When she left me in the cupboard I cried out for someone to come and take me away so many times, but no one came to rescue me.

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