In October 2013, a blonde child with blue eyes was removed from a Roma camp in Greece by authorities and given the pseudonym ‘Maria’. The assumption was that the adults she was in the company of were not her parents but her abductors. Days later, two more children with blonde hair and blue eyes were taken into State care. This time, in Ireland.
In Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes, documentary-makers Donal O’Herlihy and Liam O’Brien take a look at the sequence of events that led the Irish state to remove two children from their parents, the hysteria that surrounded ‘Maria’ at the time and the ethics of making judgements when it comes to children who do not look like their parents.
Listen now on Documentary on One : Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes.
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