CHRISTINE Buckley has been remembered as “a person of immense courage” by the Taoiseach as she was buried today.
The campaigner for Survivors of institutional abuse died at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin on Tuesday, aged 67, after a long battle with cancer.
Speaking during his visit to Britain this week, Enda Kenny said he was saddened by the news.
“I think she was a person of immense courage who was responsible as a pioneer for bringing into public awareness the question of institutional abuse,” he said.
“You would not have had a redress scheme that brought some closure and some comfort to people who were abused institutionally were it not for Christine Buckley.”
Irish President Michael D Higgins and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin joined around 1,000 mourners at Ms Buckley’s funeral in Dublin this morning.
At the ceremony she was described as a “tiny voice” who won freedom and vindication for thousands of people abused in institutional schools.
Ms Buckley was the main subject of a 1996 RTÉ documentary that gave insight into her brutal upbringing at the Dublin’s Goldenbridge orphanage, which was run by the Sisters of Mercy.
She was a leading voice in the campaign that culminated in a landmark State apology to victims of institutional abuse by then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 1999, as well as the creation of the Ryan Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse.
Ms Buckley is survived by her husband Donal and three adult children, Darragh, Conor and Cliona.
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