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A survivor of a mothers and babies home in West Dublin has said she is “very upset and angry” about legislation passed in the Dail earlier this week that would transfer records related to the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes. to Tusla.
Majella Connolly, who was born at St. Patrick’s Home for Mothers and Babies on Navan Road in 1971, spoke Saturday as more than 50 people gathered outside the old site in protest, amid fears that records would be sealed for 30 years.
The controversial legislation transfers a database of 60,000 records created by the five-year investigation into the homes to the Tusla children’s and families agency.
Protesters gathered for a brief period this afternoon with face masks and signs reading “Stop the stamp” and “Shame on it, repeal the stamp.”
The protest, which was organized by former Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger and the Dublin 7 / Dublin 15 Action Against Gender Violence group, was attended by Ms Connolly and local residents.
“I had emailed the minister [for children] Roderic O’Gorman, he’s my local TD, he asked him not to do it and to consider the people this affected and he sent me a lengthy email with the proposed amendments, ”Ms Connolly told The Irish Times.
“When [the Dáil] It was suspended Tuesday night, I thought there was a little breakthrough with Minister O’Gorman, but sadly not Thursday night no … [survivors] angry that we are not allowed to access our information.
“They took my identity, heritage and culture from me. I was born innocent in all of this and inherited all of this, that’s how I feel about it.
“I don’t think Tusla is the right agency to handle any of this. Whatever information you seek from Tusla, it is analyzed and his famous word is ‘redacted’. We are not allowed any information. I am not allowed to know who I am. “
O’Gorman has emphasized that the legislation does not seal records for 30 years and apologized Friday for his approach to dealing with the legislation.
The minister said he hopes to rebuild relations that have been “severely fractured” during Oireachtas debates on the legislation.
Ms. Coppinger, a former Dublin West representative, said she was surprised that the Green Party and Minister O’Gorman “rushed legislation when other options were presented in the course of the debate.
“He is someone who was elected with a progressive agenda of social justice. It would have been associated with equal marriage and the revocation campaign. I think that’s why it’s such a huge slap in the face for people who would have voted for the Greens in particular, ”he said.
“To say that we have to agree to a bad law, well then what is the point, we will never change anything that way.
“Women and young people in particular no longer accept any kind of oppression that my generation would have had to endure. I think they have to keep up the pressure to reverse this. “
Local resident Camilla Fitzsimons said her niece was born in a home for mothers and babies in Co Cork.
“I am sure that if we toured everyone here today, all families in Ireland have been touched by the depth of what has happened in this country with the incarceration and treatment of women,” she said.
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