Last surviving mother from Tuam home hopes to find her son as mass grave exhumation begins
Specialist forensics are tasked with opening the 5,000sq m of ground in the centre of the Dublin Road housing estate in the Galway town.
Experts from all over the world have been appointed by the Tuam intervention director Daniel MacSweeney, whose office is tasked with the recovery of 796 children who died in the former mother and baby home between 1925 and 1961.
Chrissie Tully from Loughrea has tried to find the burial records for her son who died on December 13, 1949.
She is the only mother alive who was in the Tuam mother and baby home, once in 1949 and again in 1955.
'Both of my sons were taken from me,' she said.
'Michael died, I was told, but I never saw him. Christopher was adopted without my knowledge, and he is now called Patrick, and we are very close. He found me years ago.
My son has to be somewhere. Please God, they find him and the other children.
There are no burial records for Chrissie's son Michael in Galway County council, nor are there records for him in the adjoining Bohermore cemetery.
The Irish Examiner has learned that Chrissie Tully's son Michael was one of 80 children admitted to the former Galway central hospital from the Tuam home.
Those 80 children are not included in the list of 796 babies and infants who died in the Tuam home which was uncovered by local historian Catherine Corless during her research on the home.
Records from the commission of inquiry also show a further eight children from the home died in other hospitals while 80 others died in Glenamaddy, a facility that predated the one in Tuam.
There are also a further six children who died in Tuam that are not included in the 796-death list, bringing the total death lost at Tuam to 802.
The investigation by the commission of inquiry estimated that a combined total of almost 1,000 deaths occurred in relation to the Tuam home.
There is only one record from Galway hospital for Michael Tully which was secured by his mother under the Freedom of Information Act that states the child died following a "complex breech delivery" and the same record states "return to the Tuam home".
Ms Tully said she will join the Tuam Babies Family Group who will light a candle for the children in their homes as the exhumation begins.
I pray for him every day and Ill have my candle lit.
Anna Corrigan, whose two brothers are in the grave, said she will be in Tuam for the breaking of the ground.
'I wrote to (children's) minister Norma Foley, the Taoiseach, and the President to invite them to the site last week when family were there and none of them attended.
'Then we learned that minister Foley went to the site last week herself, she could have at least taken the time to meet the families.'
In a statement a department of children spokesperson said: 'The minister visited the site this week and met with the director and the specialist team in advance of this key stage of work commencing.
"The Minister wishes to thank the director and the team for their ongoing professionalism and expertise as they continue with this important work.'
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RTÉ News
5 days ago
- RTÉ News
'It affects everyone': Travellers on the impact of violent feuds
Around a dozen men enter the housing scheme in Co Clare, one has a gun, others are armed with bats and slash hooks. They are videoed by another member of the gang so the footage could be later shared on social media. The audio on the 83-second video is a series of dull thuds, as wooden bats meet car metal and shatter-resistant windscreens, followed by the clink of breaking glass as swinging slash hooks batter windows of cars, houses, and mobile homes. None of the residents show themselves during the mayhem. Then the gunman, heavyset and dressed in a light-grey hoodie, dark bottoms, and a dark baseball cap, lifts his rifle and shoots into a house. Another man roars "c'mon, c'mon" and his gang starts to retreat, passing an upturned set of children's goalposts as they leave the site almost casually. Assorted toys are on the footpath, plastic cars just about big enough for a toddler to sit on, a pink scooter and a pink plastic chair - objects of innocence incongruous with the scene of hate and terror. Social media feuding The video is from 2023 at a Traveller-specific housing scheme in north Clare. Social media users will probably be familiar with similar videos showing feud-related attacks. Most get little attention, despite the levels of violence involved and the scale of terror inflicted on the victims. Just last week, a video circulated by the Irish Examiner showed cars and a house in Cork City being smashed up by a gang carrying slash hooks. In the last 12 months, there have also been significant feud-related incidents in counties with simmering feuds such as Limerick, Sligo, Galway, Longford, Westmeath, Dublin. These are part of what Traveller organisations say is a growing problem of interfamily and intra-family feuding that is becoming more violent. One Traveller rights activist, who declined to talk on the record, told Prime Time that feuding is "tearing our community apart." Last year, research published by three leading Traveller organisations began with a stark line. "Inter-family violence is a pervasive problem affecting Traveller individuals and their families, with far reaching consequences for the entire Traveller community, that include mental health difficulties, imprisonment, injury and in some instances, death." Also last year, the Traveller Mediation Service wrote "it is important to state that violence is not part of Traveller culture," but that inter-family conflict has "reverberations for the entire Traveller community, where backing down is seen as weakness, and a loss of honour." Feuding between or within families "affects everyone," said Colette Joyce, Secretary of the Louth Traveller Movement, "because we're all related and very closely related, it's horrible for our older generation, for people who have grown up together as brothers and sisters nearly, it could be first cousins, second cousins..." Social media is now widely viewed as being responsible for inflaming and exacerbating conflict, feud incidents are often recorded by the aggressors as well as victims or bystanders. "As soon as it's happening, it's being recorded and you have access immediately all over the world," said Nell McDonagh, Culture and Heritage officer for Meath Travellers Workshops. "Whether you're living in Germany, whether you're living in Navan, you have access to it immediately, before any peacekeepers or mediators can get involved, it's all over the world." 'Call out' videos - in which one person invites another to a fight - can attract hundreds of thousands of views, yet social media posts reflecting a positive image of the community typically get hundreds of views. Impact on Travellers Reporting on the Traveller feuding problem is a delicate subject because Travellers feel routinely stigmatised by media portrayals. Yet, it is a significant criminal problem with a severe impact on its victims who are overwhelmingly Travellers. The Irish Traveller Movement declined a request to be interviewed for a Prime Time report on the issue, instead issuing a statement on behalf of itself and 11 other Traveller organisations. The statement asked for RTÉ "not to go ahead with this programme due to its impact on the community as a whole, many of whom have entirely no connection to the issues being discussed tonight." It also said that the programme would reinforce, "damaging stereotypes that contribute to racism and discrimination." On the other hand, dozens of Travellers cooperated with the research for the programme. "It's not dirty to talk about feuding. It's okay to want to resolve it, and it's okay that we take responsibility as well for our actions as a community," said Senator Eileen Flynn, who is a Traveller. "But it's also important that the Government takes responsibilities for their ill treatment for many years to our community," Senator Flynn added. Regional feuds Co Clare is one of the counties with a significant feuding problem. Since 2023, An Garda Síochána has been running Operation Féilire to combat it. Prime Time has learned that gardaí currently estimate there are 13 active feuds in the county. "Feuding has been a big issue in Clare in recent years," said Páraic McMahon, Head of News at the Clare Echo. It's a "peaks-and-troughs-type situation. When it gets bad, things get very bad, things get out of control." He said that "as recently as 2023 up to 10 Traveller families were feuding in Ennis alone." Fianna Fáil TD for Clare, Cathal Crowe, said it's a major public concern. "I feel sorry for a lot of the women and the children caught up in the line of fire," he said. There are "fine, fine families" in the Clare Traveller community, he said, "but there are some families entrenched in this feuding warfare, and the youngsters are being brought up behind them to continue on and to carry that feuding on." At Christmas, footage of an incident in Ennis was circulated widely on social media showing two rival groups clashing and cars being rammed. It was "a pretty scary event for a lot of people," Mr McMahon said. After that incident, Mr Crowe wrote to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris urging him to "fully utilise" the Armed Response Unit and bring in gardai from outside the local division. Nomadic traditions Feuding is not in any sense a uniquely Traveller problem. In modern times, violent feuds have erupted between drug-dealing criminal gangs in Limerick and Dublin. Historically, organised faction-fighting or brawls between groups connected by family or parish were a widespread problem, particularly in Munster. However, while drugs and money can be a factor in some Traveller feuds, they tend to be mainly inter-family or intra-family disputes, and often around abstract issues of family honour. "We live in family groups. Our social life is always done in family," Nell McDonagh said, noting that wider family groupings could "extend to a couple of thousand people." "In the past, we were nomadic and we had the freedom and the ability to move around Ireland very, very freely. If there was a dispute or an issue that might affect more than one or two people, the family would get up and they would move to another camp," Ms McDonagh added. However, getting up and leaving is rarely an option nowadays partly because in 2002 the State responded to problems arising from unauthorised encampments on public land by effectively outlawing the Traveller nomadic lifestyle. Nowadays, Travellers who stop on public land, as they would have done for centuries, risk prosecution and confiscation of their property by Gardaí. "It's against the law for Travellers to travel in this country," Senator Flynn said. "It's remarkable to me when I go to Sligo, Donegal, see people in their campers, white, middle class settled people in their campers, and they're drawing trailers, and they can park up anywhere they want and use the services," she added. If members of the Traveller community were to do the same, Senator Flynn says, "gardaí would be called. And that's absolutely taking away our way of life and the whole community's way of life." Conflicts are consistently ending up in a cycle of violence and retaliation. Last year the publicly funded Traveller Mediation Service said that in its experience that "disputes over the last number of years within the community have worsened and become more violent, with increasing use of weapons, especially petrol-bombs and guns." Operation Stola The Traveller Mediation Service declined a request for interview, but according to its most recently published annual reports, it mediated in 388 disputes in the 2019-2023 period across at least 28 counties. Included were disputes between neighbours, accommodation issues, ongoing interfamily conflicts, and issues with agencies. One of those counties was Longford, where feuding has been an intermittent problem for decades. "I remember very well Cemetery Sunday in July 2019. We had the police helicopter in the sky. We had the armed response unit. We even have the dog unit, and this was for a mass in a cemetery," Longford Fianna Fáil councillor Seamus Butler said. "We nearly went over the brink," he added. From 2019, gardaí set up Operation Stola to target feuding in Longford. After the first three years, the Department of Justice reported 6,761 incidents associated with the operation, 206 arrests and 454 charges. In May 2022, then Fine Gael Minister of State Frankie Feighan told the Dáil that "the majority of violent crimes occurring in the Longford district in the year to date have related to feuding families." While there are still serious feud-related incidents from time to time in and around Longford, the situation has calmed. Since the peak in 2019, Cllr Butler said, "we've had over 36 raids" by the Garda Criminal Assets Bureau. "Houses have been confiscated. An awful lot of luxury goods, cash, and drugs have been seized in Longford. A lot of these people thought they were untouchable. They are now in deep trouble with their properties," Cllr Butler said. Longford Chamber president Fulton Grant said that "more garda presence" and the imprisonment of key figures in the feuding had an effect. "We seem to have got a good handle on it here," Mr Grant said. But there are other non-law-and-order factors, too. "It's engagement on all sides," Mr Grant said, describing how several female Travellers were a calming influence and a bridge within the community who are willing to communicate. Property destruction Research published by Traveller organisations last year titled 'The Impact of Traveller Interfamily Conflict on Individuals and Families,' noted the effect on the health of Travellers. It said feuding has "evolved to typically involve weapons, ramming of vehicles, destruction of property, that includes the setting of sites and homes on fire." "It can result in loss of life, severe mental-health difficulties, and families forced to leave their homes," the research paper continued. In Co Clare over a decade ago, feuding resulted in such significant property destruction that an entire site for Traveller-specific accommodation was razed by Clare County Council and a social housing estate built in its place. A Google Earth image from 2009 shows six units at the Ashline site on the outskirts of Ennis. Another image shows that, by 2011, two of them were destroyed. Clare County Council's 2014-2018 Traveller Accommodation Programme noted that, "At end of 2013 the group housing schemes at Ashline and [nearby] Beechpark lie completely vacant, having been the subject of repeated arson attacks to the extent that insurance cover no longer applies. In 2013 alone four houses were substantially damaged by fire." "These were well-built, perfect houses. They've been smashed, burnt, windows put in," said Deputy Crowe. In 2018, the council demolished the entire site, deciding not to refurbish again. "It makes me very angry," said Nell McDonagh, "because I think it's so unjust that a certain small number of people can destroy opportunities such as accommodation. We need to deal with the people who are responsible for this." "The vulnerable people, the people who needed accommodation, they were the ones that missed out there on opportunities. The people responsible for the violent behaviour; they don't care," Ms McDonagh added. Lateral violence Some connect the feuding problem to a concept called lateral violence, which has been studied among ethnic communities in other countries, including the Sami people of Northernmost Europe and the Aboriginal people of Australia. Lateral violence is "when people from the same community direct their rage, anger, frustrations toward people from their own community and that rage and anger and frustration comes from being oppressed," Dr Tia Whyman, Research Fellow at Murdoch University in Australia told Prime Time. "So they direct it towards themselves and their community because it's safer, rather than direct it to the people that are doing the oppressing," Dr Whyman added. "There are lots of different types of conflicts, but for it to be lateral violence, there needs to be some form of oppression," according to Dr Kristina Sehlin MacNeil, Associate Professor in Sami Studies, Umeå University, Sweden. The theory of lateral violence should not be used as "an excuse to behave badly towards one's peers," Dr Sehlin MacNeil said, adding that it can be useful in analysing the roots of peer-on-peer violence and finding solutions to it. Traveller pride How much the concept can be applied to the issue of Traveller feuding is debatable, but what is clear is that Travellers are a hard-pressed ethnic minority who are often unjustly treated. "The biggest challenges facing our community at the moment are mental health, addiction, homelessness, and unemployment," said Senator Flynn. "I'm thinking of suicide, schizophrenia, other mental health problems like depression, anxiety. It's overwhelming, actually, within our community." Surveys suggest that prejudice against Travellers in Ireland is very widespread. For example, the National Traveller Community Survey 2017 found only 9% would have a Traveller as a family member. Only 17% of just over 1,000 respondents said they would employ a Traveller. Senator Eileen Flynn said she experienced discrimination after applying for a job in care over a decade ago following a period of work experience. "I was brilliant at the job and I loved it," she said, "but once they hear the address was Labre Park, a halting site, the job was no longer available. I had great skills, but the barrier was I was a member of the Traveller community." Despite the barriers, she said, her pride in her community remains unwavering. "I couldn't ask to be from a better community," she said. "It's the love, the family, how the community take care of each other." Like many Travellers, Colette Joyce said there is too much media focus on negative issues in the community, such as criminality and feuding. "I suppose negativity sells," she said. "The issue for me is that all Travellers are painted as the same. We're all put down as the one. So if a Traveller at the far end of the country, does something, it automatically becomes my problem and I'm blamed for the same thing," she said. "I might not even know that person. And that is just something that I would like to see eradicated."
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Two deputy garda bosses battle for top job
The Garda's two deputy commissioners will fight it out next week in the final round of interviews to see who will be the next commissioner. The Irish Examiner understands there is also one or possibly two external candidates, though their identities are not known outside a very small circle. The four-person interview panel is made up of a member of the recently created Garda Board, two senior civil servants — one from the Department of Justice — and an external policing expert, believed to be a retired British chief constable. The panel will make its recommendation to justice minister Jim O'Callaghan, who will bring it to Cabinet by the end of the month. The minister has previously indicated that the person would take charge on September 1. Commissioner Drew Harris had been expected to retire in June but was asked by the Government to stay on until then. The final round next week is the last stage of a process that included an initial interview, an online questionnaire, a presentation at an assessment centre, followed by another interview. Shawna Coxon, Deputy Commissioner Operations, and Justin Kelly, Deputy Commissioner Security, Strategy and Governance, are through to the final round next week. It is believed that one external candidate is also taking part in the last round, with some suggestions that a second external candidate may also be through. Garda sources have previously expressed a strong preference against an external candidate again (Drew Harris came from the PSNI), citing the effect it would have internally, particularly among senior ranks. One senior source said: 'It depends on your perspective, really, as to who should get the job. From the Government's, they might think they've gone from a difficult period, of being mauled by controversies and scandals in the media and tribunals, to a honeymoon under Drew Harris – at least in terms of no major scandals. So that might mean they might go again for an outside candidate. 'But, internally the mood is very bad. It's rarely been as bad as it has in recent years. People are fed up, for all sorts of reasons, but they all want the job to go internally, to a garda.'
The Irish Sun
6 days ago
- The Irish Sun
Mum of missing Brit receives chilling mystery messages year after he vanished on Sardinia trip with woman he met online
THE DISTRAUGHT mum of a Brit who disappeared while camping with his girlfriend in Sardinia has been sent chilling messages saying: "I tried to believe it was an accident." Michael Frison, 26, Advertisement 11 Michael was reported missing in Sardinia Credit: Facebook 11 An image of Michael's abandoned belongings have surfaced just over a year after he vanished Credit: The Sun 11 He vanished on 13 July 2024, just the day after he arrived on the Mediterranean island Credit: Facebook/@Cristina Pittalis 11 Niomi Orlandini and Michael met online and she later joined him in Sardinia Credit: The Sun 11 The The cryptic messages 'reference guilt, fear, and the inability to remain silent.' They read: 'You cannot live a lie without it finding you eventually. Advertisement read more news 'I've seen it in nightmares. 'This isn't about blame, it's about the silence that eats away. 'I tried to forget. I tried to believe it was an accident. But the fear… it doesn't go.' Cristina previously told The Sun that she can 'relate' to Jay Slater's mum Debbie Duncan - and blames local Italian police for failing to investigate properly. Advertisement Most read in The Sun Exclusive Exclusive She said: 'I can't even imagine how Jay Slater's mum would have felt when her son went missing and she couldn't communicate in Spanish. 'I can communicate with the police and they have been useless.' Tragic last vid shows tourist, 26, smiling next to pal at summit before deadly plunge in active volcano crater Cristine explained that her son Michael had flown from Bristol Airport to Olbia on July 2 last year, before driving to his grandparents home in Sassari to celebrate his 25th birthday and his grandma's 70th. Niomi, 27, asked to join him on the trip and he cancelled his return flight to the UK in order to stay with her for an additional week. Advertisement According to his mum, the pair left Michael's grandparents home on July 12, and went to volunteer on a farm in the Gallura hinterland, where they would work in exchange for food and accommodation. Mum-of-two Cristine says the trip from her parents' place to the site they stayed at was a '70 mile journey', and the area was surrounded by 'rugged terrain and deep vegetation'. The pair arrived on an area of land, owned by a German couple, on the same day they left, with Michael and Niomi staying in a tent about '100 metres away' from the couple, who were in a campervan. Cristine said that was the last day she heard from him: 'He texted me saying he was going to sleep and that he'd call me tomorrow. He ended it with a heart emoji.' Advertisement A snap taken from the scene shows clothing and a water bottle in the area where they camped. Heartbroken mum Cristina has grown increasingly frustrated over the Italian authorities' reluctance to share key information about Michael's disappearance with British cops. 11 The search for Michael was called off after just two weeks Credit: Unpixs 11 Michael had been in Sardinia celebrating his birthday with his Italian grandparents Credit: Jonathan Kanengoni Advertisement 11 Mum Cristina has launched a campaign to find her son Credit: Jonathan Kanengoni The Foreign Office has stated it cannot intervene in the investigation unless Italy formally requests their assistance. Italian police have yet to locate or question Niomi, believed to be the last person to see Michael alive. She has not co-operated with the authorities or his family, and is thought to have moved to Thailand where her mother is from. Advertisement Cristina explained that police in Britain advised her to tell the Italian authorities to seize Niomi's passport, which they did not do, and that they got offended when she tried to tell them how to do their jobs. The crucial passport error may have allowed Niomi to vanish with a raft of questions left unanswered. She added that she has also not been given a family liaison officer, and claims Italian police have kept her in the dark. The worried mother additionally raised her concerns about Niomi, saying she has not spoken to her sisters since she left, though they keep telling her that she is a 'lovely girl'. Advertisement Efforts to track down Niomi's family in Jersey have failed. Cristina said: 'I'm not looking for a culprit, I'm looking for my son - I'm not accusing her of anything. 'But the fact she is not responding is quite mysterious and very strange.' The mum added: "Human beings do not disappear from the face of earth without leaving traces unless something extremely bad happened to them.' Advertisement The mother has been left questioning why Niomi would not respond to her appeals for help or check in for an update on the search. 11 A local investigation into his whereabouts is ongoing Credit: Facebook/@Cristina Pittalis 11 Cristina previously told The Sun that she can 'relate' to Jay Slater's mum Credit: Facebook/@Cristina Pittalis 11 Michael went missing on 13 July last year in Sardinia Credit: Jonathan Kanengoni Advertisement Cristina, who lost her husband seven years ago and is now juggling the search for Michael with looking after her youngest son, 11, said she's going through an 'unimaginable mix of emotions'. She said: 'It's destroyed our lives. 'Not knowing where Michael is and what happened is unbearable. 'Feeling the worst and holding onto hope for the best - it's an overwhelming sense of helplessness.' Advertisement She says she feels 'drained' by the emotional and physical toll of his disappearance, and vowed: 'I am determined to find him, even in my grief I will not stop fighting for him. In her desperate efforts, Cristina has 'given up everything', abandoning her promising career in social work in order to dedicate her time to finding Michael and downsizing her home. She said: 'I am leaving the house because I can't afford to live here and balance going between here and Italy.' Cristina added that her second son is home educated and has developed separation anxiety. Advertisement She praised Michael as 'such a kind and truly special soul'. She said: 'He feels so deeply not just for himself but for others - he notices when someone is struggling. 'He offers a kind word and a helping hand. "It's a never-ending nightmare. Advertisement "There's no real accountability... I am here and I am broken." A GoFundMe campaign launched by Michael's pals in the UK has now reached £10,000 in the effort to help find the missing Brit. Michael's mum living through 'never-ending nightmare' By THE mother of a Brit man who went missing in Sardinia a year ago has said she's been "broken" since his disappearance. Michael's mother Cristina Pittalis has told Sky News of her anguish over what happened to him. "I'm trying not to lose my mind," she said as she recounted the "He was in a rush but absolutely clear in his speech, I didn't detect any confusion in his state of mind." Cristina, who is from Somerset , told the broadcaster: "Human beings do not disappear from the face of earth without leaving traces unless … something extremely bad happened to them." Her son had reportedly gone for a walk, and returned in a confused state and showing signs of heatstroke. After this, he went for a second walk - from which he never returned. His clothes and trainers were later found close by. Michael's mum told Sky News is was "extremely unlikely" he would suffer heatstroke as he had lived on the island before. It would also be "completely out of character" to wander off barefoot and leave his belongings behind, she added. She has now moved to Sardinia along with her other son, 11, in an attempt to look for Michael. Cristina, who is originally from Sassari in the island's northwest, said she is "extremely worried because there are no traces of Michael". Although a local investigation into his whereabouts is ongoing, Michael's mum wants Interpol to step in to help with the search. "It's a never-ending nightmare," she said. "There's no real accountability... I am here and I am broken."
