By -

 


BABY HOMES REPORT IS A
SICKENING WHITEWASH

The official inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes has absolved both the Church and State of any systemic responsibility for what it admits is the effective incarceration of pregnant mothers.
The report also fails to find that mothers were coerced into giving up their children. It merely reports that "some" mothers 'claim' they did not properly consent.
And the inquiry also seems to have made no recommendation of significant redress for affected mothers. Destroying a mothers life by forcibly removing her child is fine by the Commission. Most women gave up their baby voluntarily it insists!
To plug that embarrassing hole the government says a 'restorative recognition' scheme with still-unspecified awards will be launched in a few months. We can expect little or nothing by way of redress.
The bias of the Commission against mothers was apparent from it's first interim reports -which insisted that physical abuse and neglect was the only injury suffered by mothers. The mothers say and know that the massive abuse they suffered was the forced removal of their child.
The Commission is blind to this most grievous injury which was the reason for the inquiry in the first place. And it is blind to the coercion of mothers and the dubiously obtained consents to adopt.
The Government is also attempting to shoehorn mothers into the Collaborative Forum process it operates. This forum is mostly comprised of adopted people and academics -none of whom have experience as a mother in a home. Mothers have their own representative organization: Irish First Mothers -with whose 70 members the government will not engage.
And the Government continues to advance adoption information legislation which does not meet the legitimate demand of mothers for speedy access to unredacted information from their own medical and birth records.
Minister O'Gorman also made no reference to investigating the grounds of the many homes with infant remains. Only the Tuam site is to get special legislation -and even there a coroner's inquiry would be the quickest legal option.
There wasn't a single public hearing in the whole of the commission's work. Justice should be seen to be done properly -as garda Maurice McCabe found out. But this was justice behind closed doors. No justice.
The majority of testimony was unsworn by design and most who spoke to the so-called unsworn 'confidential committee' of the inquiry were kept unaware that they had an option to give sworn testimony.
This wasn't a Commission of Inquiry to obtain the Truth.
It was a Commission to bury the truth forever.
Just like they buried the babies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I was Ann Lovett's Boyfrined

By -
Image
I was Ann Lovett’s boyfriend Ann Lovett died aged 15 in 1984 after giving birth at a grotto in Granard, Co Longford – a tragedy that continues to resonate. Today, Ann’s former boyfriend Ricky McDonnell speaks publicly for the first time 5th May, 2018 Rosita Boland 20 Images Video Richard “Ricky” McDonnell: “At the beginning I was silent out of fear, and then it was out of respect.” Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons/The Irish Times Richard “Ricky” McDonnell is standing at the gate, staring at a house on Colmcille Terrace, Granard, Co Longford. There was a time, 34 years ago, when he knew this house inside out. It was here he had lived from the age of six to 17 – including several years on his own – until he had to leave. It was here he had spent many hours with his former girlfriend Ann Lovett, who died aged 15 after giving birth at the grotto in the town on January 31st, 1984. It was here, on that January day, Ricky McDonnell’s life changed u...
Read more

First Mothers Lays Formal Genocide Charges Against Irish State

By -
Image
By Kathy McMahon   ​ 4th April, 2017 -  Following correspondence to our group from the Irish Attorney General , Irish First Mothers has today  ​replied to the AG  laying  ​​formal charges of genocide against the Irish State on behalf of around 70 mothers formerly resident in Mother and Baby homes. We have also written requesting  the Presidency of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to engage with Ireland on this issue, on an informal and voluntary basis. Ou r claim under Ireland's International  Criminal Court  Act of 2006 , alleges crimes of  genocide and failure to prevent genocide  by the Irish State in respect of its historical treatment of unmarried mothers. Specifically we assert that our sequestration in State-sanctioned religious homes and the subsequent coercive adoption of our children violated two signature genocide criteria enshrined in Irish law: grievous mental harm and forced transfer of children. ...
Read more

Memorial Celebrating Mother And Child Bond Unveiled In Victoria

By -
Image
Front: Brenda Coughlan , Spokesperson for Independent Regional Mothers. Rear: Former Deputy Premier of Victoria, Peter Ryan ; Former Premier of Victoria, Ted Ballieu ; Hon. Darren Chester , a Commonwealth Minister representing Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. In Victoria Park , Sale, Victoria, Australia . 17th March VICTORIA - Leading Victoria lawmakers gathered in Sale, Victoria today to celebrate with mother's rights campaigner Brenda Coughlan, at the Victoria Park unveiling of a statue honoring the special bond between mother and child. Former Premier of Victoria, Ted Ballieu and Former Deputy Premier of Victoria, Peter Ryan attended as  Hon. Darren Chester, a Commonwealth Minister representing Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and  Ms. Coughlan, a spokesperson for Independent Regional Mothers , jointly unveiled the statue by Andrew Poppleton entitled "Mother and Child – Cherished". The event follows on from national and state leve...
Read more