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Speaking today Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs paid tribute to the journalist Mary Raftery.

"Mary Raftery’s early death removes a powerful force from media. In print and in television, she led on the issue of clerical child sexual abuse, and ground-breaking documentaries like Cardinal Secrets brought home to viewers the squalid prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse while emphasising the life-long damage it could deliver to those abused."

"Her documentaries were not "docu-dramas" but packed just as much emotional punch, because she understood that a visual could help viewers viscerally grasp the terror a young person experienced when trapped without anybody close at hand to help. Similarly, her use of slowed-down footage lent an extra menace to some of the film employed in her documentaries."

"In addition to her work with RTE, she was a strong presence in print journalism and as a commentator on current affairs television, always calmly on top of her data, always relentless in her attack, not just on those who had molested children, but on the system that effectively permitted such molestation."

"Mary Raftery played an essential role in the opening up of Ireland to its child protection duties, and will always be remembered for that."

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dhílis.