1/6. It is lengthy and tedious at times but I recommend it to those who surmise what a great little country Ireland is. It is the Mahon/Planning Tribunal Report documenting the most expensive public inquiry in the State. One of the witnesses was #TomGilmartin a returned Emigrant who had no interest in testifying until Pee Flynn referred to him and his wife on the @RTELateLateShow (see clip in resources at end)

Tom had worked hard in the UK He was devastated to witness Irelands youth homeless on London’s streets where he lived, forced out 2/6

1/5 A former child of #Letterfrack #IndustrialSchool turned up at a #MemorialEvent in 2002. He was then aged 74 and he’d carried the memory of attending the burial of the child in the woods; not in the designated children’s burial area
He desperately wished to locate the remains The child’s name was Bernard Kerrigan. He was four years old when he died in 1935. The man who attended had played with Bernard in the school yard the day before his death and wanted his remains rescued and placed alongside the children in burial ground
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1/10 The journey for respect from State for #Survivors; #Victims and #Families of #LostChildren in Ireland’s #MotherAndBabyHomes is nothing short of soul-destroying, you’d honestly think the “leak” of the Commissions Report on 10/1/2021 in @TheSundayIndo would yield results It’s not rocket science - as 15 #Cabinet Ministers sit around the table; the “leak” did not come from our side - no survivor/family/advocate had a copy despite 550 survivors providing testimony to the Confidential Committee and 19 via Investigative Committee. 2/10

1/5. “We knew what was happening. I saw it myself. I saw nuns coming to the gates of #Bessborough and parents collecting babies from them” - Eye witness, John Furlong aged 92. John was in his teens when together with a few others they devised a plan to help girls escape. John’s role was an important one; to delay the search for the missing girl. Once the alarm sounded, the Garda was on his bike looking for the girl. The boys would hide the bike to thwart the search and later return it. John says people knew and one man working for the Nuns
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1/7 For 77 years from 1922 Bessborough owned and run by Congregation of the the Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary had a maternity wing added in 1933. This place was “home” to 9,768 for a time, One woman who died in 1985 spent 61 years inside here - she entered aged 24. Reminds me of the response once given by the Mother Superior in the Galway Magdalene to a question as to “how long do they stay”; the answer: “some stay for life”. It would be interesting to see the paperwork related to this woman; her entry pathway and the monies paid to Nuns. 2/7

1/4 Our history. Almost 100 years ago in 1925 the State drew up the Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Bill to preclude women from applying for some Civil Service jobs. Enactment was delayed to Sept 1926 due to its defeat in Seanad - see contribution by Jennie Wyse Power ⬇️ In 1935 the Conditions of Employment Act extended the marriage bar of the Civil Service Amendment Act to the entire civil service (except for workers in lower grades such as cleaners) and gave the government power to limit the number of women employed in any particular industry/2

1/3 This is an aerial view of the Tuam site; walled memorial garden tiny compared to the playground area. There is also car park where we park when we visit + a large stone structure to six anti-treaty soldiers executed at the site in April 1923 when it was a military barracks The memorial walled garden was built originally as a sewage collection pit with outlets and inlets that could be connected to mains or other systems. There are twenty separate chambers with small openings within the pit.
⬇️ from Technical Report published Apr 2019. 2/3

I/4 I wake every morning with the fear that we will never get Justice for all who suffered in #MotherAndBabyHomes; those who survived and those we lost during the years of operation and in the interim. Apologies don’t cut it; words on a page are meaningless if unaccompanied by action; action that can bring closure. We cannot turn the clock back to right the injustice of the time; but we can acknowledge it today. The apology is null and void when redress amounts to days spent in institution; it ignores the lifelong inter generational trauma of 2/4

1/3. Presently there is no investigation/ground penetration radar analysis of grounds at #Bessboro planned where 859 children’s remains are lost, this letter is proof the State knew but why was this inquiry halted? Many will point to the power of the #church but it’s more than that. To not have knowledge of a burial spot is to deny families the opportunity to visit; to mourn; to move on with their lives. @ctcantwell mum’s testimony is harrowing; her son born healthy at 7lbs 11ozs. She recalls his perfectly formed features. She is entitled to truth 2/3

1/3 Re/ #MotherAndBabyHome regarding overseas #Adoption of Irish Children (dated 31/5/1951) twenty months before law was in place (Jan 1953) to allow for adoption. This correspondence relates to #Castlepollard “home” and contact with American Embassy with regard 2adopting a child “It was our opinion that the mother of the child could not alienate her natural right to bring up her own child, that her surrender of her child to a convent .. + was alright as far as it went but that if she was to take it back the Court in this country would uphold her” 2/3

1/4 Letter from the Irish Government to the Catholic Church 29/2/1948
“On the assumption of office and our first Cabinet meeting, my colleagues and myself desire to repose at the feet of your Holiness the assurance of our filial loyalty and devotion as well as of our firm resolve “ to be guided in all our work by the teaching of Christ and to strive for the attainment of a social order in Ireland based on Christian principles”

Signed: John A Costello
Prime Minister

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Peter Tyrell was born as Ireland was fighting for her independence and the country was in poverty. In desperation his mum begged for food and when he was eight years old, the authorities petitioned the Courts to place four boys in the feared Industrial school at Letterfrack, Peter entered hell, suffered and witnessed the most appalling cruelty. He spent eight years there and upon release remained a short time in Ireland. At 19 he went to England and at 23 joined the British Army. He was taken prisoner 2/7

1/4 I’ve heard hundreds of those stories, personal testimonies, stories of loss, of hope, of death and survival, Stories that ‘tumble out’ sometimes amid tears. We developed as survivors raised their voices, shared “I remember” …. and their voices drift. The joy of sharing memories with another who likely had a similar experience. A family of ‘survivors’ educating us, reminding us “it must never happen again”. And still, 24,000 of those are deemed unworthy by State to any recognition or any redress.2/4

1/5 Blog post by lawyer @AHorowitzLaw entitled “Why we Still need to sue Catholic Institutions” which is relevant at this time given discussions yesterday in @OireachtasNews where @SocDems leader @HollyCairnsTD asked Minister @rodericogorman for update on discussions with RCC with regard to financial compensation to victims and survivors of #motherandbabyhomes
Recently we saw the President of the Law Society Justice Clarke recommend changes to end the ongoing blockage experienced by survivors who attempt to get justice. 2/5

1/6 Yesterday @HollyCairnsTD asked @rodericogorman about negotiations with Religious Orders to contribute to the Redress Scheme. The response is disappointing. It is now over two years since the Minister first wrote to the Orders and discussions are continuing he says with the Government priority it appears at this point to pass Redress legislation. I don’t need to remind anyone that this legislation is divisive and discriminatory, decided upon by a select group of senior civil servants with no acknowledgement to survivor requests 2/6

1/4 The Illegitimate Children {Affiliation Orders) Bill 1929 was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas on the 11th June 1930. Definition reads “An Act to make provision for the father of an illegitimate child of the Obliging respect of such child and for the enforcement of such obligation”. Item 35 reads “ No Justice of the District Court shall be satisfied that a person is the putative father of an illegitimate child without hearing evidence of the mother of such child 2/4

You never think you’re going to be part of a minority
And one that “doesn’t matter”
I found it hard to watch @RTE_PrimeTime last night
And see that despite having two Ministers @rodericogorman and @AnneRabbitte neither were available to comment. 1/6 In census 643,131 of us ticked the box that defined us as (Dis)abled. We still have abilities but our disability is often noticed first and we are expected to behave a certain way. The charitable model of disability has not gone away. 2/6

1/5 During test excavation carried out within the Memorial Garden of the Tuam home by Dr McCullough in 2016-2017 together with bone fragments the following items were found. A blue shoe estimated to fit a child under six years And an empty Castrol GTX bottle sold in UK and Ireland after 1968. The home closed in 1961 so this find is evidence that the site was somewhat accessible. In 1975 while playing in the area as youngsters, Barry Sweeney and Frankie Hopkins moved a slab to reveal bones 2/5

1/8 Yesterday #UniversityOfLimerick bestowed honorary doctorates on 4 inspirational individuals. One recipient, Ms Terry Prone received the award “Honorary Doctor of Letters”. Some of you will recall this piece received by Saskia Weber who made enquiries about #TuamBabies in 2014 At the outset Ms. Prone remarked “when the O My God, mass grave in West of Ireland broke in an English-owned paper (The Mail) it surprised the hell out of everybody, not least the Sisters of Bon Secours in Ireland, none of whom had ever worked in Tuam and most of whom had” 2/8