The M&B Home Report is 2,865 pgs long. The survivors need time to digest it.
Historians and academics need time to distil it.
The public needs to understand it.
The work by journalists across all outlets today (and for many years) is helping all that to happen. A thread...
I'd advise people to seek out reports which include first-person evidence and points you to primary sources before reading opinion pieces (they'll have a place later on) and hot-take tweets (of which we're all guilty).
There have been superb pieces written and broadcast today.
I'll just give you a sample of our own work from @thejournal_ie here as a start.
The report often says that the COI couldn't prove/disprove or find evidence of XYZ. But, in the absence of full co-operation by religious orders or the decent keeping of records, the woman's testimony is often evidence enough.
One of the greatest indictments is how little care was taken to record *anything* about a child's death & resting place. For the religious, for which this is usually of the greatest import, to act as such is unforgiveable.That was not 'society' or 'shame'
Most of the women in the homes were in their 20s. But there were also teenagers, victims of rape. Their very pregnancies were evidence of crimes committed against them. @GNiAodha reports on how little was done or said jrnl.ie/5322973
The Taoiseach will give a State apology tomorrow. Some religious orders have issued statements today, but the government also wants them to contribute to a redress scheme. @ronanduffy_ has a really good overview of what was said at today's press conference jrnl.ie/5322998
There are also some details here from an earlier thread
This won't finish with an apology and redress though. There's a lot more to work through. @ConalThomas examines a specific issue at Bessborough where planning permission has been applied for to build almost 300 apartments jrnl.ie/5322598
Meanwhile, last weekend's 'leak' still remains a contentious issue which the Taoiseach was asked about today. More from @christinafinn8jrnl.ie/5323205
We'll have a lot more in the coming hours and days as we get reaction from survivors, analyse the full report and chase down more details of the redress scheme.
Tonight, to start, @michellehtweet looks at the report's chapter on discrimination in homes over race and disability
Keep listening to survivors.
And think about the narrative that we're living in a much different Ireland today.
I want this to not come across trite, but between the M&B report and the Covid-19 death toll, that was a tough day and I hope everyone is ok. If you're not, that's also ok. Just know there's help out there.
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Pertinent questioning of the Taoiseach by @orlaryan who asks 1. what the State will *specifically* be apologising for tomorrow and 2. whether the Church should apologise for its role in the existence and running of these mother and baby homes.
The Taoiseach said the State was complicit and neglectful which led to children not being protected. Instead of thriving, they had reduced chance of survival.
He also noted its direct responsibility for county homes.
Micheál Martin gave a specific example of how the mother superior at Bessborough was not removed from her position in the 40s despite inspector reports highlighting the 'very high death rate'.
That highlights the lack of action, the Taoiseach said.
In Dec, I was really surprised how the UK struggled to publish vaccination numbers. It was described there as such an 'own goal' because they were actually doing well.
I mentioned yesterday on @RadioBrendanRTE that I hope we learn from the UK system - its failures and successes - but we are now in our own 'own goal' territory now by not publishing the figures from the first two weeks.
Publication isn't due until Thursday.
On radio, @paulreiddublin has given numbers so we have been told that 35k were done last week. And we know from individual hospitals that there are some good news stories out there.
But the official vacuum is leading to misinformation like this.
Well! That was quite the 24-ish hours. We don’t quite know the full ramifications it all yet but it feels important to remember and document everything.
So… a thread:
7pm on 20 August: The Irish Examiner published the story and @aoifegracemoore tweets it out. In my version, she hit send while taking a big gulp of red wine like Olivia in Scandal (before she went bad).
Small thread on the Kerry radiology review - looking at the numbers, as broken down here by @GAodhajrnl.ie/4379135
The review - the biggest radiology lookback every carried out here - looked atl 46,000 radiology scans. All were examined by ONE consultant radiologist between March 2016 and July 2017. That's 46,000 scans in 15 months. Well over a hundred a day.