Mary Raftery

Mary Raftery
Born
Mary Frances Thérèse Raftery

(1957-12-21)21 December 1957
Dublin, Ireland
Died10 January 2012(2012-01-10) (aged 54)
St. Vincent's University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Occupation(s)Filmmaker, writer
Known forStates of Fear, Cardinal Secrets
SpouseDavid Waddell
ChildrenOne

Mary Frances Thérèse Raftery (21 December 1957 – 10 January 2012) was an Irish investigative journalist, filmmaker and writer.

Raftery was born in Dublin.[1] She started her investigative journalism career with In Dublin magazine in the 1970s, before moving on to Magill Magazine and then to Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) in 1984. Her documentary series States of Fear was broadcast on the Irish television channel Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) in 1999.[2] A book she wrote later that year called Suffer the Little Children added more detail to her claim that the Irish childcare system between the 1930s and 1970s was guilty of widespread persecution and abuse. In 2000, the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse was established by the Irish Government to examine the evidence: its Report was published in May 2009.[3] Her programme "Cardinal Secrets" was broadcast as a Prime Time special on RTÉ in 2002. It led to the setting up of the Murphy Commission of Investigation into clerical abuse in the Dublin Archdiocese which published the Murphy Report in 2009.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

She was nominated for "NNI National Journalist of the Year" in 2011 for her work in exposing clerical abuse of children.

Raftery died of ovarian cancer at St. Vincent's University Hospital on 10 January 2012, aged 54.[13][14] An Article that appeared in February 2012 in The Irish Times referred to her as "the most important journalist of the past 30 years".[15]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc10 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc11 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc12 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc13 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc16 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc18 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference cc9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).