The manipulation of “vulnerability:” state responses to so-called “historical” abuses in ireland

This manuscript analyses the Irish state’s treatment of victim-survivors of twentieth century systematic institutional and gender-based abuses by reference to Martha Fineman’s theory of vulnerability, including her warning of the dangers of a non-universalist approach. It argues that the Irish state has constructed victim-survivors as a “vulnerable” group by denying them access to ordinary democratic accountability mechanisms and using this impunity to portray victim-survivors as requiring “specialized” measures, which it then operates “benevolently” without reference to human rights law. The essay argues that Fineman’s work offers an unsettling lens through which to view reparation efforts for gross and systematic human rights violations, particularly involving systems of state care.