‘A jigsaw puzzle ...

By Pamela Duncan
Irish Times
July 21, 2014

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/warning-issued-on-mother-and-baby-homes-inquiry-1.1872513?fb_action_ids=10204504612399550&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_ref=.U80zWATBNL0.like

‘A jigsaw puzzle that must be looked at in its entirety’

When TD Anne Ferris took to her feet in the Dáil chamber last week it was to speak on a deeply personal matter. The 59-year-old revealed that, up until a fortnight ago, she had “never laid eyes” on her sister: the two women were adopted from different mother-and-baby homes, grew up in different families and ended up living in different countries.

In a poignant address Ms Ferris said that, when they met they “looked like sisters but we didn’t talk like sisters”.

“Where other sisters in our age group have shared experiences and a shared family history, we have just had a very long, long gap in our lives . . . We look very alike but so far that’s the only aspect of our lives that we share.”

Jigsaw puzzle

Ms Ferris went on to describe mother-and-baby homes, adoption practices, the Magdalene laundries, the county homes, private homes, religious organisations and the State as part of a “very large jigsaw puzzle that must be looked at in its entirety”.

Some pieces have already fallen into place due to the work of historian Catherine Corless, whose research into 796 child deaths in the home in Tuam, Galway sparked national controversy and led to the Government establishing an inquiry into mother-and-baby homes.

Since then, The Irish Times has published figures on a number of deaths recorded in contemporaneous local government and public reports and returns filed by the homes with the Department of Health. A further 222 deaths have been documented in the Protestant-run Bethany Home.