MOTHER and Baby Home Inquiry Will Need US - Philomena

By Eilish O'Regan
Irish Independent
January 10, 2015

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/mother-and-baby-home-inquiry-will-need-us-philomena-30896704.html

Philomena Lee, whose heartbreaking search for her adopted son became a major movie, has appealed to other women and children who spent time in mother and baby homes to give testimony to the Commission of Investigation.

Ms Lee was unmarried when she gave birth to her son Anthony in the early 1950s. He was given up for adoption to a couple in the United States when he was just three years old.

The mother and baby home in Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, where she gave birth, is now one of 14 institutions which will be part of a promised far-reaching probe by the Commission, which will be chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy.

The Commission, which will conduct most of its work in private, will have a confidential forum to hear the accounts of past residents.

Ms Lee told the Irish Independent last night: "I encourage those women and children to come forward - even anonymously - to give their testimony as I have done myself, so that every corner is properly investigated and all those affected receive justice."

She added: "I am cautiously pleased to see the release of the terms of reference for the Commission for inquiry. I would have hoped to see a more broad inclusion of all mothers and children affected by adoption, and those who also spent time in Magdalene Laundries."

The terms of reference, announced by Minister for Children James Reilly yesterday, will allow the Commission to examine forced or illegal adoptions. The three-year investigation, which will cost ˆ21m, will span from 1922 to 1998.

The minister said. "The work of the commission will be unflinching with wide-ranging powers. It will find out how we fell short in the past. Some of what we learn will be painful."

The examination will look at the care and living conditions in the homes as well as death rates among infants.

The minister said it will also be free to look at burial grounds and exhume remains if judged appropriate.

The use of babies in some of these homes for vaccine trials, and the transfer of remains to university medical schools as part of doctor training are also in the terms of reference.

The commission, with an office in Baggot Street, Dublin, will also include Dr William Durcan, a legal expert on child protection, and social historian Mary Daly.

It will have the power to compel witnesses to attend to answer questions and produce documents. It also has powers of entry and inspection.

A report from the confidential committee and social history module is due in 18 months.

The terms were broadly welcomed, but there was disappointment that not all Protestant-run homes were on the list and Magdalen Laundries were also excluded.

Researcher Catherine Corless, whose painstaking work on the Tuam mother and baby home provided the impetus for the inquiry, said she was troubled by the omission of these women.

* The homes to be investigated as part of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes from the 1920s to the 1990s:

1. Ard Mhuire, Dunboyne, Co Meath.

2. Belmont, Belmont Avenue, Dublin 4.

3. Bessboro House, Blackrock, Cork.

4. Bethany Home, Blackhall Place and Rathgar, Dublin.

5. Bon Secours Home, Tuam, Co Galway.

6. Denny House (originally Magdalen Home), Eglington Road and Lower Leeson Street, Dublin .

7. Kilrush, Cooraclare Road, Co Clare.

8. Manor House, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath.

9. Ms Carr’s, Northbrook Road, Dublin.

10. Regina Coeli Hostel, North Brunswick Street, Dublin.

11. Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, Co Tipperary.

12. St Gerard’s, Mountjoy Square, Dublin.

13. St. Patrick’s (originally Pelletstown), Navan Road, and Eglington Road, Dublin.

14. The Castle, Newtown Cunningham, Co Donegal.

Irish Independent