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Original poster

Mother and Baby Homes

43 replies

BessboroughBaby · 11/01/2021 11:45

Some of the report of the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes has been leaked.
We now have Joan Burton, an adoptee and ex Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection bleating writing in an article in the Irish Independent about the fact that Ireland is one of the few countries in the world that denies people their right to know of their origins.
This right was given to adoptees in the UK in the 70s fgs.
Joan Burton was in Government for years, she was second in command as Tánaiste, her Labour party held a balance of power.
Why didn't she change things ?

We'll get public apologies from MM etc which are totally worthless unless things change and soon. Angry

Rant over Sad

OP posts:
123MothergotafleA · 12/01/2021 08:20

The time has come for the Church and Government agencies who colluded with them in the scandalous abuse of Irish citizens over many decades to hold their hands up and admit their crimes and to compensate fully those affected.

Original poster
BessboroughBaby · 12/01/2021 11:39

I was one of the lucky ones. I was adopted into a lovely family and had a great life. Wanting for nothing. My adoptive mother was amazing. Huge love for us (2 adopted). When I think of it, she took a huge leap of faith. As did my adoptive father.
Heartbreaking for her she was unable to have children ( she loved children ).
My birth mother, who I met much later in life ( after a long search and the Adoption agency not being forthcoming at all ) was so lovely too. She said she was not mistreated in Bessborough but thinks it was because a relative of hers was in the church. Sad
When I think of what might have been !!!!
Her parents are long dead and never knew.

Those children had fathers too.
Why are the birth fathers so rarely mentioned. Many of them must be culpable. Some of the children were conceived in love. Others, perhaps rape or incest. Sad

OP posts:
Nannyamc · 12/01/2021 11:47

It is a disgrace that this report was leaked Another feck up for this government. Ireland treated these survivors and their children cruelly.
We hope we have moved on but the way this is being handled is a scandal. Will we ever learn?

Original poster
BessboroughBaby · 12/01/2021 12:43

There will be no repercussions for the leak. There never are in this country.

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123MothergotafleA · 12/01/2021 15:02

No repercussions for the leak or for the crimes against humanity committed by The Church and The Establishment.
Why does nobody at least ask the awkward questions? Where are the investigative journalists at least?

Mishmased · 12/01/2021 15:35

I was listening to Joe yesterday and a lady was talking about how they would be serving tea and biscuits to the prospective adoptive parents and weren't allowed to look at them. How the babies would be put in cots and viewed by families. Just heartbreaking stuff. And she never found her son.
She was on the radio talking about how she was brought back from England to lreland once her pregnancy was discovered and she was brought on the ferry by a priest and no one questioned the priest. Just shocking! Poor women.

Original poster
BessboroughBaby · 12/01/2021 16:00

My birth mother had to bring me on the train from Bessborough, Cork to Dublin herself where I was put in to the orphanage at Temple Hill to await adoption. It was very hard for her.
She was afraid too that she would be spotted.
And she was.
Ireland is so small !
Someone she knew asked her was she in Dublin with a child on a particular day.
But she was able to make up a story as cover as she was doing midwifery.

OP posts:
Nannyamc · 12/01/2021 16:16

The report is appalling. Irelands dirty past laid bare. Where are the religious orders in all this? Nuns and priests were cruel evil individuals.

123MothergotafleA · 12/01/2021 16:53

The Church is to be asked for " a contribution" towards the compensation for those it persecuted over fifty years.

Original poster
BessboroughBaby · 12/01/2021 19:11

The funds the "religious" have invested is JAWDROPPING

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Girlyracer · 12/01/2021 19:25

Everything I read about this whole awful situation just beggars belief. The cruelty is astounding.

PhoebeSnow · 12/01/2021 21:20

Its heartbreaking that this has been allowed to go on with no accountability from the political parties, Catholic Church and police. It must have been like living under the Taliban.

SionnachRua · 12/01/2021 21:23

A lot of noise from the Church this week over that RTE skit and yet they're strangely quiet about their own being complicit in the deaths of 9,000 children.

Funny, that.

Original poster
BessboroughBaby · 12/01/2021 21:33

12 year olds - and not reported to the Gardaí.

OP posts:
PhoebeSnow · 12/01/2021 21:35

@SionnachRua

A lot of noise from the Church this week over that RTE skit and yet they're strangely quiet about their own being complicit in the deaths of 9,000 children.

Funny, that.

Please can you tell me what the RTE skit was.

The Lost Child Of Philomena Lee is an excellent book by Martin Sixsmith. The Judi Dench film Philomena is based on it.

SionnachRua · 12/01/2021 22:13

@PhoebeSnow it was a New Years Eve countdown thing. Basically a mock news report saying that God had forced himself on a young Middle Eastern migrant and impregnated her.

I wasn't a fan of the skit but personally I think God would have more of an issue with people systematically mistreating women and babies in his name than a short clip poking fun at him.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.thejournal.ie/rte-god-rapist-5319203-Jan2021/%3famp=1

PhoebeSnow · 12/01/2021 22:19

I’m glad that the BBC has featured this on the news so more people know what happened.

PhoebeSnow · 12/01/2021 22:23

[quote SionnachRua]@PhoebeSnow it was a New Years Eve countdown thing. Basically a mock news report saying that God had forced himself on a young Middle Eastern migrant and impregnated her.

I wasn't a fan of the skit but personally I think God would have more of an issue with people systematically mistreating women and babies in his name than a short clip poking fun at him.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.thejournal.ie/rte-god-rapist-5319203-Jan2021/%3famp=1[/quote]
Thank you. It’s not a funny skit but it’s interesting to see what you mean about the reaction to it.

Original poster
BessboroughBaby · 13/01/2021 08:31

Is this the 3rd Taoiseach to apologise ?
I wish they'd f*ck off with their apologies and let adopted people get their original birth cert and information about their birth family without jumping through hoops to get scraps of information piece meal. Sad
Almost 50 years ago UK adoptees got the right to their birth information.

Is it true that to get a Public Service Card, adoptees have to bring their Adoption Cert to their appointment ????
Now where would I find that ?
Having gone through my now long deceased adoptive parents papers years ago I never came across one.

OP posts:
FionaMacCool · 13/01/2021 12:28

@SionnachRua

A lot of noise from the Church this week over that RTE skit and yet they're strangely quiet about their own being complicit in the deaths of 9,000 children.

Funny, that.

Yes, Sionnach, funny how there's no quick reaction to that. And, which is more blasphemous
  • the New Year's Eve 'skit' (didn't like it or think it was funny/appropriate myself)
  • or, the systematic "imprisonment" and mistreatment of women and children over decades?
Hmmm

Oh, and while I'm on a roll,
lets not forget that the "Church" did not exist in a vacuum.
The mistreatment of women (and children) was symptomatic of a disordered society (which hasn't gone away you know).

SionnachRua · 13/01/2021 12:52

Oh yy to all of it. I was very pissed yesterday that Micheal Martin was happy to apologise on behalf of Irish people but not on behalf of Fianna Fail....trying to say they didn't enable the abuse, unbelievable.

I always think of this man at times like this. Powerful speaker. streamable.com/gck98m

LadyEloise · 13/01/2021 13:07

Oh my word @SionnachRua.
He certainly is a powerful speaker. Sad
The survivors will get the same old platitudes.
Move along now- old news.
I have to say the Bon Secours nuns statement was more than I expected them to give. But too little to late I'm sure for those affected.

FionaMacCool · 13/01/2021 13:25

The video that Sionnach posted, is of Michael O'Brien addressing Govt Minister, Noel Dempsey, on Questions and Answers.

It should be mandatory viewing for every adult in the country. There is huge grace in the truth shining through his words.

Lady I worry that there will be same old, same old.
We, as a society, still fail to respect the inherent dignity of women and children.
I dont think we are unique in this country...but we might uniquely have a mirror held in front of us.
And that can be a powerful thing, to drive change.

Where will that change come from?

Listening to Mary-Lou, I am afraid that Sinn Fein will try to capitalise on this, as on this particular issue, their hand are slightly less soiled than others.
However, a party that will not assist in giving families the dignity of knowing where their loved ones bodies are buried, is equally complicit in failing to respect the inherent dignity of people.

123MothergotafleA · 13/01/2021 13:31

Well said Fiona.

123MothergotafleA · 13/01/2021 16:07

I really want to mention the indefatigable Catherine Corless whose dogged research into the Tuam home threw the spotlight on this shameful saga.
She deserves the very highest honours possible.