"Many Children Would Be There One Day and Gone the Next..they Simply Disappeared."

By David Coleman
Irish Mirror
June 6, 2014

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/tuam-survivor-many-children-would-3650448

A survivor of the mother and baby home at the centre of the graves scandal last night revealed the hellish conditions kids were forced to live in.

John Rodgers, 68, described it as the home in Tuam, Co Galway as a "rabid playground where you couldn't get too attached" because kids would simply disappear.

John, who spent five years there, believes the terrible conditions they were forced to live in were responsible for the high mortality rate.

He explained: “We’d all been separated from our mothers early on. And I remember the place being overrun with children, maybe 200 or 300.

“Many of them were ill, including me. It was like a rabid playground.

John Rodgers as a baby at the home in Tuam in 1947

“I had friends but you couldn’t get too attached because so many children would just be there one day and gone the next. They disappeared.

“They were fostered out, adopted or they died. When I heard about the mass grave, it brought back all the horror.”

John was horrified to discover that friends of his who died at the home may have been dumped in a septic tank with nearly 800 other children.

John Rodgers, Survivor of Tuam home, visits the site of mass grave

And he branded it “a crime against humanity”.

He said: “If you have a pet in the house, and it dies, your first instinct is to go down at the bottom of the garden, do the decent thing and get it buried.

“They didn’t get that in the children’s home in Tuam – you were thrown into a septic tank. How else could you have a heap of bodies there?”

The shocking revelations of the past week have brought back horrible memories for John who has spent years trying to recover from what he experienced at the home.

Children's home at Tuam, Co. Galway

John, who was born in the home in 1947, has told how he "could have been buried in a septic tank".

And he told how the shock revelations made the hairs on his neck stand up.

He said: "It has been a bombshell for me. It made the hair stand on my neck to think that I could have been just over there in the corner buried in a septic tank.

"It's horrendous when you think about it. I was one of the lucky ones."

John's mother Bridie Rodgers in England in 1964 after she ran away from the home.

Mr Rodgers’ comments come days after historian Catherine Corless discovered there was no proper burial record for 796 children who died between 1925 and 1961 at the home run by the Bon Secours Sisters.

As public revulsion over the story reached fever-pitch, it emerged:

FORENSIC experts could determine how the children died – as a result of malnutrition, assault or neglect

A CRIMINAL probe could begin into who was responsible for the excessively-high death rates of youngsters

A TD said gardai must treat the plot as a crime scene, and

MOVES are under way to have a proper memorial on the site when the investigation is completed.

Mr Rodgers, who lived in the home until he was fostered out to a family in Williamstown, North Galway, when he was six, last night demanded the State and Church are held accountable.

John Rodgers with his fostered parents in Williamstown, Co. Galway in 1954

He added: “It was a horrible dark period in Irish life but we have to accept that.

“We also have to face the truth that what they did was wrong. The State and the Church acted like a Mafia.”

Catherine Murphy TD yesterday pushed for a criminal inquiry into the children’s deaths.

She said: “If this septic tank was found anywhere else in the country other than beside a religious institution, it would have been declared a crime scene.”

She questioned the high mortality rate and suggested children might have been used for drug trials which she claimed were conducted at other homes.

Mr Rodgers said this would not surprise him.

John Rodgers with his mother Bridie in 1985 looking back at old photos

He added: “Who is to say somebody didn’t go into the institution, people with richer financial interests, like pharmaceutical companies?

“We were perfect guinea pigs, there was nobody who was going to speak for us, especially with my mum sent to a Magdalene laundry.

“We were at the mercy of the Church and they did a very poor job of it.”

Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin yesterday said the probe might lead to “criminal inquiries if that is deemed appropriate by the Garda authorities”.

And forensic scientist Geoff Knuper said the cause of death could still be determined.

He told RTE’s Morning Ireland: “Obviously it all depends on the state of preservation. It’s certainly possible.

“In addition to providing opportunities for DNA identification, the skeletal structures could show evidence of physical violence, of disease, even malnutrition.

“This should, or could, bea matter for the Garda Siochana, the coroner and State Pathologist.”

The Bon Secours Sisters last night welcomed an inquiry “to establish the full truth of what happened”. Another order, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary who ran three of the largest mother and baby homes, also backed an investigation.

However, the Garda last night said there is no probe into the mass graves.

A spokesman said: “The grounds in Tuam were being surveyed in 2012 and bones were found. They are historical burials, probably going back as far as Famine times.

“There is no suggestion of impropriety and there is no Garda investigation.

“Also, there is no confirmation from any source that there are between 750 and 800 bodies.”