Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern People should remember the contribution religious orders have made to Irish education and other services, according to ex-Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Speaking on The Saint Patrick’s Podcast to Martina Purdy and Elaine Kelly, Mr Ahern spoke of the extensive religious presence in his native Drumcondra as he grew up.
“In the area where I lived in Drumcondra it was known as ‘Holy Land’ – we had all around us, my dad worked in All Hallows College, just down the road was Clonliffe College which was the college where the priests for the Dublin Diocese (were trained) – the Vicentian nuns were down the road, we had Franciscan brothers, we had the Rosminian fathers, Christian Brothers…we had several other religious groupings in the area,” Mr Ahern said.
Asked what his parents would think of the Ireland of today, Mr Ahern said he thinks they would have difficulty with the lack of recognition religious orders get for the work they’ve done and the institutions they’ve put in place.
“I think it’s important for people nowadays, and this is where my mother and father would have difficulty,” Mr Ahern said, continuing, “all of these religious orders and institutions ran very important services for the State, whether they were priests or whether they were students doing education.
“Where the Rosminian fathers are now is ChildVision, but they educated the people with visually impaired eyesight, but all of these things at one stage were run by religious orders and I think sometimes people forget that we mightn’t have a lot of these educational institutions or services if it wasn’t for religious orders,” he said.
“I think people should remember that.”
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