Obituary: Dr Noel Cawley Well-known agriculture and food sector business leader and horse breeder independent.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from independent.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Much of what we know of Alice Litster exists in what she wrote well over half a century ago. And that is enough to know that Alice Litster was a remarkable person and well ahead of her time.
For 35 years up to 1957, she was an inspector for the then department of health and visited most of the institutions covered on Tuesday by the Mother and Babies Homes commission.
In fastidious and fearless reports, she highlighted the overcrowding, poor facilities, criminal lack of medical training in antenatal care, and the scarily high rate of infant mortality in many of them.
Noting her perseverance, the commission says Litster was was one of very few to âtry valiantly to have conditions improvedâ among many hundreds who did not want to rock the boat.