Authoritarianism and the early Irish State

andrew
Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:22:14 +0000
Catholic church, Clerical abuse, Family values, Feminism, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Republicanism, Sectarianism, Sex, Sex work, History, National, Magazine, Analysis

Fin Dwyer looks at the latter years of Ireland’s first post independence government, which having successfully suppressed political opposition and the workers’ movement, went on to “attack women and enforce their moral and ethical values on wider society”. From the clearing of prostitutes from the Monto and the filling of the Magdalene laundries to the institutionalisation of child abuse, he describes how the state’s close association with the Catholic Church played a decisive role in forming attitudes to women and sex that have had a devastating effect on Irish society that can still be felt today.