The wife of a Navan doctor who was criticised for standing up against child beatings in schools run by religious orders in the 1960s says he was finally and fully vindicated by the recently published scoping report on abuse in such schools.
Dr Paddy Randles lost patients and faced a backlash from comrades in the medical profession for his stance against the religious orders in corporal punishments and also his crusade to stop the recruitment of young children taken from families by religious orders.
Paddy felt so strongly against the alleged abuse that he went to the News of the World in England to expose the suffering that was endured by the children in the town who went to a school run by the De La Salles Order.
The newspaper ran the feature 'Children of the Lash' over three weeks.
The newspapers were taken off the shelves before early mass-goers had a chance to leave the Church on the first week and mysteriously disappeared from all newsagents in the town on the last two Sundays.
"It only took nearly 60 years, but Paddy was fully vindicated by this report. He was painted to be the devil at the time and this report just shows that he was a good man who wanted children to have a childhood free from any kind of abuse at school, said Dr Mary Randles of her husband who died in his 90s in 2017.
"Paddy just held the belief that corporal punishment had to stop, that it was damaging children,"
"I remember the viciousness of people who didn't agree. I don't want to bring the church too much into it but there was a complete upheaval about it that he was anti-church.
"He was to be side-lined and his views weren't of value to anybody.
"I remember a senior medical person in Meath coming to our house and telling Paddy to back off, stop his campaign and get on with his work because there was no support for him.
"I remember he got one letter of support and encouragement from a local dentist at the time.
"That was the system then. That was the way things were run and you didn't have any other options. If you spoke out against education, it was assumed that you were anti-clerical and that was the assumption of Paddy. He was anti-clerical and could be sidelined and you were wasting your time listening to him and what he was saying.
"In those days, people said and led by what they heard off the pulpit and what they were or were not told to believe.
"We were so convinced that children should not be beaten in schools and that this was cruelty, we didn't mind speaking out. We never lost a night's sleep because we were convinced we were right.
"We were thinking in a straight line and if people didn't agree with you, it didn't bother you."
"Paddy also spoke out about why he thought recruiting children as young as 12 years old by the Christian Brothers was wrong.
"Parents of large families were delighted that their child would be further educated but they were taken away too young and moulded into celibate Christian Brothers and teachers, let loose with a strap for a tool of teaching.
"I remember when corporal punishment was banned in the 80s and I asked Paddy what he thought and he said it was about time, and that is exactly what I think of this report. Paddy's campaign was about corporal punishment but any kind of abuse in schools should be and is being finally called out.
The Scoping Inquiry was told of some 2.395 allegations of historical sexual abuse involving 884 alleged abusers in 308 schools across all parts of the country between the years 1927 and 2013.
It includes two allegations made against one abuser in a school run by the De La Salle order in the town.
"Paddy was quite elderly in 2009 when the Ryan Inquiry was published on widespread child abuse at State and Catholic Church-run institutions.
"Paddy cried when that report was published and asked me to drive him to the Mansion House where a book of solidarity was opened for the public to show their support for the victims.
"I had to get a wheelchair and then he had to haul himself up the steps of the Mansion House to sign the book but he signed it.
"In recent years, Paddy had a bench dedicated to him erected in Navan and my family and I were just overwhelmed and delighted.
"But it was the direct opposite of Paddy. The last thing he ever wanted was publicity. He wasn't looking for kudos. He was painted as a devil and this bench and this report has vindicated him as the good man he was."
Dr Randles also expressed her delight on the Government initiative to give free contraception for women.
"It is one of life's freedoms that everyone should be afforded."
The now retired Dr Mary Randles was a trailblazer in her own right, opening up the first family planning clinic outside Dublin in the early 70s.
"When I came to Navan, I noticed that women were having families of 14 and 16 and 18 children and this was not happening in Dublin,"
"I came to Navan at the same time as the pill was becoming available. I was young and full of ideas and enthusiasm and I was going to improve the lot of Irish women.
"One of the things holding women back in Ireland then was the gigantic families that they were having. Women were all the time either pregnant or childminding and you would want to be mentally deficient not to jump in there and offer alternatives to women to choosing and spacing the length of their families.
"It wasn't a great enlightenment, it was just common sense.
"I didn't get a lot of opposition when I opened. At the time, Paddy was getting the attention for his stance on corporal punishment so I kind of sneaked in the back door and gradually integrated family planning into my practice.
"There was a quiet enthusiasm from women for the option of contraceptives.
"But some were coming in and asking me for a letter to say they had to take contraceptives for medical reasons. They wanted to bring the letter into the confession on a Saturday and show the Priest.
"I remember when they said they had to get the priest's opinion. I laughed and said I'd be asking the bus driver for his opinion or anyone else before I'd go to the priest!"
