European Commission to investigate mother and baby homes

The European Commission is to investigate allegations about the Irish State’s treatment of women in mother and baby homes.

It is also to investigate allegations about the way the State has treated survivors of those homes.

Earlier this year, the Coalition of Mother and Baby Homes Survivors in Ireland petitioned the commission for an investigation.

It called for an investigation into “breaches of human rights” that occurred in the homes and for an examination of “the wider official system” that “facilitated” forced adoptions of children from those homes.

"The past is not finished with us"

On Thursday, the commission told the coalition their petition for an investigation has been “declared admissible”.

The European Commission has now been asked to conduct a preliminary investigation of the issues raised.

It has also been referred to the European Parliament Coordinator on Children's Rights.

Paul Jude Redmond, of the Coalition of Mother and Baby Homes Survivors in Ireland, said: "We are delighted the European Parliament has decided to recognise our appalling treatment at the hands of successive Irish Governments."

Clodagh Malone, a survivor of St Patrick's Mother and Baby Home, said: "We may think we're finished with Ireland's past but the past is not finished with us.”

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Up to 7,000 babies and children are believed to have died in mother and baby homes.

Their bodies have lain for decades in what were mostly unmarked graves on abandoned wasteland adjoining graveyards.

Among the various homes in Ireland at one point were those run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary who arrived in Ireland in 1922.

As well as Castlepollard in Co Westmeath, the congregation ran two other mother and baby homes, one of which — the Bessborough Centre in Cork — was open from 1922 until 1996.

Sean Ross Abbey, another home in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, was where Philomena Lee's son was forcibly given up for adoption — something that became the subject of 2013’s Oscar-nominated film starring Judi Dench.

A common cause of baby deaths was marasmus — a severe form of malnutrition, commonly found in babies born in famine-hit countries.

An estimated 4,800 children were born in Sean Ross Abbey and at least 700 of them are believed to have died between 1930 and 1950.

No figures are available for those who died subsequently but researchers estimate around a total 1,200 died by the time the facility closed in 1969.

Some 3,763 babies were born in Castlepollard over its 35 years from 1935 to 1971.

Of these, 2,500 were allegedly adopted out and an estimated 200-300 died.

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