For anybody struggling to accept the result of the repeal referendum, they should read or listen to the stories of the survivors of the Magdalene Laundries who were hosted by President Higgins in Dublin last week. For there is a connection.

When you look back now it is hard to believe that we lived in a society where women who gave birth outside marriage were ostracised and packed off to a life of virtual slavery. Their families were complicit in this man-made rule forbidding unmarried mothers from enjoying a normal life with their newborns. Fair enough, they were different times and maybe what societal groups thought then was that this was the right thing to do. But the benefit of hindsight shows us that under no circumstances could we defend such treatment of these women. Then there were the mother and baby homes and the recently revealed scandal of illegal adoptions. Central to all of this was the Catholic Church.

I would say though that we far too easily just lay blame at the door of the church. It was the psychopaths who infiltrated it to wield their own power and without a Christian bone in their body. Paedophiles also used the collar to inflict their sadistic ways on innocent children. So it’s always popular and simple to blame the church and by extension its family of worshippers for the shameful horror stories of the past visited on so many innocent women and children.

Nevertheless, instead of trying to separate the good from the bad within the institution it is easier to now just ignore the church, its teachings and its leaders with defiance. This is the first grown-up generation which feels totally free to speak their mind, not afraid to talk down to the Bishops.

Our parents’ generation lived in fear and even those that didn’t were ignored. And so it is arguable that one of the main reasons why the same-sex marriage referendum and the repeal referendum were won by the yes side was because of this backlash against the power of the church.

That power began crumbling a long time ago but the remnants of its legacy with regards to the Magdalene Laundries, the mother and baby homes and the litany of sexual abuse scandals carried out by the likes of Fr Brendan Smyth remains fresh in the memory. And now there is an insatiable appetite, particularly among younger people, to move Ireland as far away as possible from those dark episodes in our history and that includes voting for changes to the constitution which are an anathema to the teachings of the church or the wishes of Bishops.

This changing face of old traditional Ireland does not sit well with some more conservative members of society who feel that Ireland is somehow losing its identity and, as such, naturally would have voted No in both referendums.

But it is that part of traditional old Ireland, which treated women and poor people as lepers, that lies behind the swathe of this generation who voted yes both times too, as much to move Ireland further away from the religious tyranny of the past as it was about the core question.

That said, in the rush to a more secular Ireland, those of deep faith and committed to the church need to be respected too. Just because you go to mass doesn’t mean you support the dark history of the Catholic Church such as the Magdalene Laundries scandal. CL

Daylight robbery robots

I got clamped for the first time ever last week. It cost me €125. It’s no wonder that the phone number you ring to get un-clamped is not answered by a human!