Bravest Warrior Is Finally at Rest
By Aine Hegarty
How do you measure someone’s life? Have you given a voice to those who cannot speak? Have you bravely taken on Church and State and won? Have you been instrumental in getting laws changed and changing the course of history? Not many people can say yes to those things but Christine Buckley did all of them during her 67 years. She exposed the horrors that were inflicted on innocent children in Goldenbridge orphanage in Dublin. Christine herself suffered unimaginable abuse from the age of three when she was sent there by a judge as she was found “wandering” the streets. The daughter of a 31-year-old married woman and a 20-year-old Nigerian student, she was just three weeks old when she was fostered. In 1950, her world would never be the same again after she was sent to Goldenbridge where she found herself in the care of the Sisters of Mercy. This morning on learning she had lost her battle with cancer, I listened back to some of her interviews through the years. Her voice was always so powerful because it was honest. Listening to her describe the beatings meted out by the nuns which she called “slaughterings” because of the level of depravity involved, sends shivers down my spine. Christine was once so badly beaten she needed 100 stitches in her leg. When she was 10, a kettle of boiling water was poured over her thigh. She also told how infants were strapped to potties and beaten if they did not behave while older children were treated as slaves and forced to make 60 sets of beads a day. Yet this sickening abuse was carried out on tiny babies and young children by so-called Brides of Christ. While these kids were incarcerated in Goldenbridge they were treated like criminals by the nuns. This was overseen by our State and justice system who sentenced children to a life of hell at the orphanage for the simple reason that they were born into poverty or out of wedlock. Somehow Christine survived and found the courage to be the first person to speak out about the atrocities which took place at the hellhole. She reached out to the entire nation and told her story through the powerful drama Dear Daughter, which was based on her memories of Goldenbridge. But it took many, many years of brave fighting on Christine’s part to bring about the investigation and the apology which victims of institutional abuse needed and deserved. When it looked like the fight was failing or their quest was being strangled by bureaucracy, Christine fought on. Her courageous battle for the truth eventually led to then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern apologising on behalf of the State to people who were abused and degraded in State-run institutions as children. He said he was inspired to issue the apology after many meetings with Christine. He also set up the Ryan commission and a compensation scheme which has paid out to 15,000 people who suffered abuse thanks to her intense campaigning. Christine’s legacy is truly an amazing one. She is an inspiration to anyone who has ever suffered at the hands of powerful individuals. Her message is simple, keep fighting and eventually justice will be served. Her husband Donal perhaps paid the best tribute to his wife, when he described her as a “warrior”. He said: “She was a warrior for people to try and trace their parents. She was a warrior for justice. “She was a warrior for education and the benefits education can bring to people. “She was a warrior for, most of all, people like her who spent time in industrial institutions.” For a warrior like Christine, the phrase Rest in Peace just feels inadequate. Like all great warriors down through the years, Christine may be gone, but her accomplishments on the battlefield will never be forgotten. Ni bheidh a leitheid aris ann.
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