O’Gorman: Mother and baby homes report revealed 'truth of what happened' in institutions

Children’s minister Roderic O’Gorman said the Mother and Baby Homes Commission report revealed “the truth of what happened” in the institutions in a letter to Orders seeking a financial contribution to the Government’s redress scheme.

In a series of letters to the religious orders that ran Mother and Baby Institutions, as well as to the Archbishops of Dublin and Armagh sent on January 12, 2021, Mr O’Gorman said the Commission had “delivered an independent, comprehensive, and factual account of the institutions under investigation, and the experiences of the women and children who resided there for a period”.

“Publication of the Report is a landmark moment for the Irish State. The Report reveals the truth of what happened, within the walls of Mother and Baby Homes and beyond them, to many thousands of women and children. Importantly, it also captures those journeys and experiences in the words of those who experienced them first-hand,” he said.

In its final report, the Commission found:

“no evidence” that women were forced to enter mother and baby institutions by Church or State authorities;

“no evidence” of the type of abuse that occurred in industrial schools;

“very little evidence” of physical abuse;

“no evidence” that children were injured in vaccine trials;

“no evidence” that women did not fully consent to the adoption of their children;

and “no evidence” of discrimination against mixed race or disabled children in adoption practices.

It also concluded that it had “not seen evidence of illegal registration of births” in the institutions it investigated. The Commission also said the institutions provided “a refuge” for women when families provided no refuge at all.

In the series of letters, sent on the day the final report was published, Mr O’Gorman said one of the most striking things in the Commission’s findings and the Confidential Committee report was “the shame felt by women who became pregnant outside of marriage and the stigma of illegitimacy that was so cruelly attached to their children”.

He said that, for some, this has been “a significant burden” which continues to impact their lives.

The Minister also stressed that “context” was essential to understanding this period of Irish history but that this should not “lessen what happened or diminish the responsibility for the failures laid bare in what we have learned”.

Concluding the letters, the Minister seeks a meeting with the Church and the religious orders. He also asks them to consider making an apology; a contribution to the financial costs of a Restorative Recognition Scheme and other proposed measures and the possibility of transferring records to the planned National Memorial and Records Centre.

Response from Orders

The most noteworthy response from the Orders comes from the Bons Secours Sisters which operated the Tuam Mother and Baby Institution.

Area Leader, Sister Eileen O’Connor, responded to the Minister on January 28 saying there “appears to be a lot of confusion as to what is proposed” in relation to the redress scheme and other proposed measures and “therefore we await hearing from government as to what schemes are to be put in place and we will then consider same”.

“We look forward to taking you up on your offer of a meeting once the issues have become clearer in relation to the Restorative Recognition Scheme and other proposed measures,” said Sr O’Connor.

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