Mary Frances Thérèse Raftery (21 December 1957 – 10 January 2012) was an Irish 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, pla ...

. Raftery was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. She started her investigative journalism career with ''

In Dublin ''In Dublin'' is a folk/rock album by Alan Stivell, recorded live at the National Stadium, Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, ...

'' magazine in the 1970s, before moving on to

Magill ''Magill'' was an Ireland, Irish politics and current affairs magazine founded by Vincent Browne and others in 1977. ''Magill'' specialised in investigative articles and colourful reportage by journalists such as Eamonn McCann (who wrote its an ...

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. 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 fe ...

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 ...

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 and adjacent to ...

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

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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