Mary Frances Thérèse Raftery (21 December 1957 – 10 January 2012) was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
investigative
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
,
filmmaker
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
and
writer
A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...
.
Raftery was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
. 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
Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...
(RTÉ) in 1984. Her documentary series ''
States of Fear'' was broadcast on the Irish television channel
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...
(RTÉ) in 1999. 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
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (CICA) was one of a range of measures introduced by the Irish Government to investigate the extent and effects of abuse on children from 1936 onwards. Commencing its work in 1999, it was commonly known ...
was established by the Irish Government to examine the evidence: its Report was published in May 2009. Her programme "
Cardinal Secrets
"Cardinal Secrets" is a 2002 ''Prime Time'' special produced by Mary Raftery and reported on by Mick Peelo. Its broadcast on RTÉ Television led to the setting up of the Murphy Commission of Investigation into clerical abuse in the Dublin Archdi ...
" was broadcast as a ''
Prime Time
Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...
'' 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
The Murphy Report is the brief name of the report of a Commission of investigation conducted by the Irish government into the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin. It was released in 2009 by Judge Yvonne Murphy, only a few ...
in 2009.
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
Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...
at
St. Vincent's University Hospital
St. Vincent's Hospital ( ga, Ospidéal Ollscoile Naomh Uinseann) is a teaching hospital located at Elm Park, south of the city of Dublin, Ireland. It is at the junction of Merrion Road and Nutley Lane opposite the Merrion Centre, Dublin, Merrion ...
on 10 January 2012, aged 54. An Article that appeared in February 2012 in ''The Irish Times'' referred to her as "the most important journalist of the past 30 years".
Writing
*
*
References
External links
Mary Raftery Journalism Fund
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raftery, Mary
1957 births
2012 deaths
20th-century Irish people
21st-century Irish people
Deaths from ovarian cancer
Deaths from cancer in the Republic of Ireland
Irish columnists
Irish film directors
Irish women film directors
Irish non-fiction writers
Irish women non-fiction writers
Irish television directors
People educated at St Conleth's College
Irish television producers
Irish women journalists
The Irish Times people
Magill people
RTÉ people
Critics of the Catholic Church
Irish women columnists
Women television producers
Women television directors