"Records are still in the hands of private and religious organisations"
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Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Mother and baby home survivor upset by absence of 1,090 infants from key report
A survivor of the Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home at Roscrea, Co Tipperary, has expressed shock that a recently published report made 'no mention' of 1,090 babies who died there, with 'no call for excavations, no investigation into where these babies are buried'. Ann Connolly said the religious order that ran the home 'handed over 269 death certificates, but we know that at least 1,090 babies died. What happened to the rest?' Her open letter to 'every TD, senator and media outlet in Ireland' referred to the first report from special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse, Patricia Carey, published on June 24th. Ms Carey was appointed in March 2024 as part of the Government's response to the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, published in January 2021. READ MORE Ms Connolly, recalling how she and survivor advocate Michael Donovan had met Ms Carey at Sean Ross Abbey, said they had asked her to raise 'the need to excavate anomalies found on the grounds' there with Norma Foley , who was then minister for education, and the Government. They had spoken to her about 'the existence of an underground tank in the Angel's Plot, and the urgent need to lift its cover and examine it for possible human remains. Council maps that don't match what's on the ground and must be rectified', she said. 'Yet none of this is mentioned in Patricia Carey's report. That silence speaks volumes,' Ms Connolly said. 'How is something so heartbreaking and urgent left out of her official report? 'There are women now in their 70s and 80s who are coming to the end of their lives. They still don't know where their babies are. This should have been the number one priority in any report written on behalf of survivors.' [ Exclusion of some survivors from mother and baby redress scheme 'causing anger, distress and retraumatisation' ] She also described as 'tokenism' a recommendation in the report that four survivors be appointed to a steering group for the proposed National Centre for Research and Remembrance. 'If this centre is going to mean anything, it should be shaped, staffed and run by survivors,' she said. On redress, Ms Connolly said the public had been led to believe 'that survivors received large sums of compensation' whereas 'if you were in a mother and baby home for 180 days you qualify for just €5,000' while 'one missing day means you're excluded from redress'. Emphasising that the issue was not about money, she said 'this is about being recognised. About being treated with dignity. About not being dismissed and disqualified yet again'. The State and religious orders 'tore us from our mothers and stripped us of our identities, now they are denying us even the basic recognition of our suffering', Ms Connolly said. In response, Ms Carey said she was in full support of survivors who were calling for dignified burial and memorialisation. 'I agree with the concerns raised in respect of the immediate and urgent need for dignified burial and the sensitive treatment of mass graves, unmarked graves and sites of burial across institutions in Ireland. I am in full support of survivors who have been calling for this to be addressed by the State for decades,' she said. In her report Ms Carey recommended the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme should be extended 'to those currently excluded from redress'. The present 'restrictive eligibility requirements' enforced a 'hierarchy of suffering' according to 'arbitrary criteria' that perpetuated 'the harm caused by the State and the church', it said It called for survivors to have full, unredacted access to all their records and for legislation to compel religious orders and church authorities to hand over all records related to institutions and forced family separation The report also called for an independent investigation into vaccine trials 'conducted without consent' on thousands of children. There should also be greater ease of access to Irish passports for those trafficked abroad for adoption, with more supports and resources made available for survivors living overseas, particularly in the UK and US , it said.
Irish Times
25-06-2025
- Irish Times
Exclusion of survivors from mother and baby redress scheme ‘causing anger, distress and retraumatisation'
Excluding some survivors from the mother and baby home redress scheme is causing people anger, distress and retraumatisation, the special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse has said. The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme's 'restrictive eligibility requirements' have enforced a 'hierarchy of suffering' according to arbitrary criteria, said Patricia Carey who has published her first report. Excluding certain survivors from the scheme, including those who were boarded out or fostered out and those who spent fewer than 180 days in institutions as a child, 'are arbitrary criteria and perpetuate the harm caused by the State and the church', the report notes. 'The fact that those boarded out as young as five years of age to work unpaid on farms and as servants have never been included in any redress scheme is a stain on the whole of Government response institutional abuse,' said Ms Carey. READ MORE The report also highlights the exclusion of survivors who died before the State apology on January 13th, 2021, which has prevented the families of those who died from making an application for compensation. Ms Carey, who was appointed special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse in March 2024, met more than 1,300 survivors of institutional abuse and forced family separation in Ireland and overseas during her first year in the role. During this time, Ms Carey heard first-hand accounts of 'beatings, sexual and physical abuse, forced and unpaid labour as well as hunger and lack of care, education and family life'. Many survivors left Ireland after their experiences of 'incarceration, confinement or abuse in institutions, or were illegally trafficked or adopted as part of Ireland's legacy of forced family separation', she notes. Many survivors said providing testimony as part of the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme was 'upsetting, traumatic, adversarial, difficult and distressful', the report notes. The report calls for survivors to have full and unredacted access to all their records, and says legislation is needed to compel religious orders and church authorities to hand over all records related to institutions and forced family separation. The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme should be extended 'to those currently excluded from redress' including people who spent time in the mother and baby home network of institutions and all those who were forcibly removed from their families, it says. All open redress schemes should be widely promoted, to encourage as many applications as possible, it adds. Given the ageing survivor population, it is 'unfair and exclusionary to further discriminate' against those who were unable to apply to, or were unaware of, previous redress schemes, says the report. A significant percentage of survivors are residing in social housing or are on waiting lists for social housing and live in areas of social deprivation, with many voicing concerns around secondary institutionalisation in later life in nursing or care homes. Survivors must have access to good quality, affordable social housing and should be fully supported to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible, says the report. It also calls for the establishment of an independent investigation into vaccine trials 'conducted without consent' on thousands of children in institutions in the 1960s and the 1970s. An independent DNA and genealogy service should also be established for those whose births were illegally registered and for those seeking family tracing, it notes. There should also be greater ease of access to Irish passports for those trafficked abroad for adoption and more supports, and resources should be made available for survivors living overseas, particularly in the UK and US, says the report. The post of special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse was created as part of the Government's response to the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation. Ms Carey's brief encompasses mother and baby institutions; county home institutions; Magdalene laundries, industrial and reformatory school institutions and related institutions; and those adopted, boarded out or the subject of an illegal birth registration.
RTÉ News
25-06-2025
- RTÉ News
"Records are still in the hands of private and religious organisations"
Patricia Carey, Special Advocate for Survivors of Institutional Abuse, discusses the first Annual Report which highlights the interests and voices of survivors.
