First Dates Ireland has aired plenty of awkward and hilarious moments this series - there's no doubt, when the show does cringe, it does it well! Equally, the reality TV show also occasionally touches on stories of a more serious nature, always ensuring that they are dealt with tastefully.
First Dates Ireland tonight looks set to be particularly emotional as viewers will hear a story from a woman regarding her upbringing in an industrial school after her mother was raped and put in a Magdalene Laundry.
Dun Laoghaire woman Angie (68) meets retired trucker Denis (75) from Drimnagh and opens up about growing up in an industrial school while her mother was in the Magdalene Laundries.
Angie says:
I grew up in Athlone. I had a tough childhood and I was brought up in an industrial school. My mother was raped when she was 16 and had me at 17 and she was put in then to the Magdalene Laundries. She spent 15 years there and I spent my time in the industrial school until I was 14.
Angie goes on to explain how her Grandmother returned from America and took her out of the industrial school. She eventually met her mother at 16 for the very first time.
Then I met my mother at 16 for the first time. My mother never knew where I was and I never knew where my mother was. It never leaves you, it never leaves you. Just to think of the suffering that she went through, the suffering that I went through, because she had a baby.
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During tonight's episode, Angie also tells viewers that she would love to fall in love again, having lost her partner ten years ago. You can watch a preview below:
We'll have to wait and see whether Angie and Denis hit it off.
First Dates Ireland, Tuesday, 27 February at 9.30pm
