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THE SURVIVORS HAVE SAID that they should be given an apology from the State, reparation and other support as a matter of urgency, ahead of the publication of the long-awaited final report of the Commission of Inquiry on Homes for Mothers and Babies later today.
Mary Harney, who was born in the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork in 1949, said she and other survivors want an unreserved apology from the Taoiseach, followed by action, rather than “platitudes.”
“I don’t want to hear any topics from him on Wednesday, things we’ve heard about Magdalene Laundries and other places. ‘Oh sorry, it shouldn’t have happened.’ Well, it happened and you were the one responsible.
“The Irish government was absolutely and totally responsible, whether society was involved or religious orders colluded, the responsibility is on its doorstep.
“I want you to say, ‘This was our fault.’
“You’ve heard from us for the past God knows how many years, so please accept responsibility and we could accept your apology,” Mary said. TheJournal.ie.
He said the leak of information from the report to the media over the weekend, before survivors saw it, was upsetting but not surprising.
The Sunday Independent claimed that the report will confirm that 9,000 children died in the 18 institutions investigated.
Mary said she was disappointed that the leak happened, but not surprised.
“I was disappointed that it leaked, but I don’t think anything will surprise me with this batch anymore. We have been disappointed in the Children’s Department as a collaborative forum since 2018, we have had nothing but disappointment from them. “
Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman wrote to survivor groups Sunday to say he was “deeply angered” by the leak.
On Twitter, O’Gorman said he would seek an investigation into how the details were made public.
Mary said “a verbal slap on the wrist” for whoever leaked the information not long ago for the survivors.
Speaking later to Pat Kenny in Newstalk yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “In the modern era, various government reports, aspects of them, are leaked. And we will certainly address that issue as well. “
Mary said this answer is not good enough.
“Once again, it’s almost like confirmation that they continue on the same path they have always followed. ‘Oh well, there are always leaks.’
“It’s that not-all-end-all kind of attitude, but it’s a historical situation for us, but for them it’s just, ‘Oh well, here we go, another investigation.
In the same interview, Martin said that the government’s response will be “comprehensive.” He added that it has been “the turn of this generation” to address issues of “a dark chapter in our history.
Reparation and rights
Mary last year shared her personal story with TheJournal.ie.
She spent the first two and a half years of her life in the Bessborough home, with her mother, before being adopted by a family in Cork City.
She was neglected and abused in her foster home, and at the age of five she was removed and sent to Good Shepherd Industrial School in Sunday’s Well.
Mary told us how she and other children were regularly beaten “until our fingers bled.”
She, like many children in industrial schools, was incorrectly told that her mother had died before he finally met her.
Mary said that reparation and allowing survivors access to their birth certificates and medical records, among the recommendations set forth by Project Clann here, must occur urgently.
“I think it must happen quickly in light of the aging population of survivors now. I think it’s imperative that this doesn’t go on for years, ”Mary told us, citing previous delays in reparation payments to survivors of institutional abuse.
He said that if the system for requesting a repair is too complicated, it will be “re-traumatizing” and cause unnecessary delays to the point that “many of us will be dead before the repair is considered to be given.”
Mary believes that the commission’s work will be “a wasted exercise” if survivors “do not have unlimited access to our birth certificates, our early care documents, our medical records and everything they have about us.”
“It is very good to say, of course, that you have the right of access through Tusla, to request access. Yes, we know that we can request it. We have years of applying, but not years of actually getting what we want.
“There are many more things [we should get] but for me the right to identity is a human right, it is the most important thing ”.
Illegal reception
The Sunday Independent also reported that allegations that institutions were paid to arrange foreign adoptions proved impossible for the commission to prove or disprove.
Catherine Corless, whose investigation uncovered a mass burial site in an old home in Tuam, said yesterday that she and others have evidence that some children were trafficked and “sold” to couples in the United States. He said he hopes the final report reflects this.
Mary said that if the commission “followed the money,” there would likely be a confirmation of illegal adoptions and foster care.
She said she is concerned the report may also “overlook the totally unregulated adoption of children” like her.
Mary Harney
Source: Mary Harney
The final report, which spans just under 3,000 pages, will detail the experiences of women and children who lived in 14 maternal and child homes and four county homes, a sample of the total number of homes, between 1922 and 1998.
Mary said the fact that the commission only examined 18 homes means it won’t give a complete picture of how the system worked. She believes that many children, including herself, were illegally fostered before the Adoption Act in 1952.
“I am concerned that because they are only looking at 14 institutions, they may not have seen how the system worked in total, since before the Adoption Law.
“People say, ‘Oh, they were illegally adopted.’ Before the Adoption Law came in in 1952, what happened to the children, where did they go, who was responsible?
“I was taken in illegally, I must have been because I cannot find any record of how I was handed over without my mother’s consent or without any paperwork. I’m not the only one we’re talking about. From 1922 to 1952, what happened to those children? “
Webinar
O’Gorman is scheduled to bring a memorandum on the final report to Cabinet this morning, paving the way for publication on the department’s website in the afternoon.
Prior to the release of the report, an online briefing will be held between O’Gorman, Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the survivors.
Mary is not among the survivors who will be invited to the webinar, but she said she will try to tune in to us. Some survivors who received the link share it with others who did not.
Mary said there is confusion among survivors about how many of them will participate in the call and how they will be selected.
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A department spokesperson said the webinar guests “were drawn from the department’s own database of survivor / stakeholder contacts.”
Mary said she was told on Friday that a shortened version of the final report would be sent to her, but she has not received it yet.
Survivors will only have a couple of hours to read the report before it goes live.
Mary said that is not enough time to read such a lengthy document, but that she and others will try to read as much as they can before it is released this afternoon.
When asked about the process last week, a spokesman for the Children’s Department said the minister “recognizes how important it is that former residents and their families are the first to know about the report and know how to access it.”
“Immediately after the cabinet meeting, the minister and An Taoiseach will organize an online presentation exclusively for former residents. In this way, survivors will be the first to hear the key findings of the report and the details of the initial government response.
Counseling supports for survivors have been launched.
The National Counseling Service will provide therapy to survivors, either face-to-face, over the phone, or online via secure video. Former residents can arrange counseling sessions through direct self-referral or through written referrals from healthcare professionals, such as GPs.
An after-hours service, Connect Counseling, is also available to provide support and currently provides an enhanced service from 6 pm to 10 pm seven days a week.
You can read more information about the services here.
We’ll cover what’s in the final report today, on the site, and on Twitter (follow @orlaryan and @conalthomas for updates). If you or a family member spent time in a mother and baby home or county home and would like to share your experience, please email [email protected] or [email protected].
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