Ar chuala tú an scéal faoi na 800 leanaí marbh? Tháinig gasúir ar na cnámha agus iad ag súgradh. Cá bhfios? B’fhéidir go bhfuil tú ag siúl ar chnámha. Tá go leor acu ann ar fud na tíre. B’fhéidir níos mó ná 10,000 agus ní bhfuair siad bás go nádúrtha. Droch aire agus faillí i gceist agus dúnmharú mar cuid eile de scéal na mná maslaithe cé nár Magdalenes iad sa chás seo. Níor chóir dóibh bheith ann. Tá siad ró-óg.Ní raibh rogha acu. Níor fhéach daoine san Eaglais orthu mar dhaoine ach mar pheacaigh & mar sin mharaigh siad na páistí. Ba chuma leo iad bheith beo nó marbh agus b’fhearr le cuid acu iad bheith marbh.
Single mothers are fallen women and grave sinners,
whose children are the product of wickedness
– An tAthair Cecil Barrett
Ní raibh rogha agam nuair a bhaistigh siad mé ach ba leo mé ansin, dar leo.
Ní raibh rogha agam nuair a chuaigh mé ar scoil ach mo Theagasc Críostaí a fhoghlaim.
Lúireach acu. Cosaint acu. Cumhacht acu. Ní amhlaidh do na páistí a mharaigh siad.
Fuair páiste bás gach coicís ag ‘Home’ i dTuaim ar feadh 40 bliana de réir tuairisc amháin agus fuair 300 bás idir 1943 agus 1946 de réir ceann eile, sé sin beirt gach seachtain básaithe. Is tá na cnámha de beagnach 800 acu i dtanc sa talamh ansin.
I think that we are all agreed that the consensus opinion in our society is to the effect that adoption is better for the illegitimate baby than to be cared for by its mother
– Paddy Cooney, Aire Dlí, 1974
Ethos nó Aineolas nó Fuath Ban nó Faisisteachas nó Céard? Cibé rud, bhí sé mícheart.
| Lúireach Chaite |
Creach liom,
Coir romham,
Cine i mo dhiaidh,
Ceisteanna istigh ionam, Cnámha fúm. |
Cumhacht os mo chionn,
Ceal ar mo lámh dheas,
Cosc ar mo lámh chlé, Ceisteanna i mo luí dom. Cnámha fúm. |
Ceisteanna i mo sheasamh dom, Croí ag gach duine atá ag cuimhneamh orthu,
Croí i mbéal gach duine a labhráionn fúthu,
Croí cráite i ngach súil a fhéachann orthu, Cnámha fúm. |
| Cén cluas nach n-éistfeadh leo? Na cnámha fúinn. |
Ní raibh rogha agam nuair a mhúin mé reiligiúin sa scoil.
Ní raibh rogha ag mo mháthair ná a deirfiúracha ná a máthair agus mar sin de, trí shaol na saol.
Ní raibh rogha agam nuair a bhí mé singil agus ag súil le leanbh ach pósadh & nuair nach raibh siad sásta leis sin, an tír a fhágáil. Ní fhaca siad mé.
Ní fhaca siad duine. Chonaic siad peaca.
Ach níor mharaigh siad mé ná mo pháistí. Tá muidne slán.
Ní amhlaidh do na 800 gasúir a mharaigh siad & bheadh ionadh an domhain orm mura bhfuilimid a caint faoi uimhir i bhfad níos ó ná sin agus mná óga ann freisin. Idir 1925 agus 1961 chaith siad 800 páistí i ndabhach mhúnlaigh i dTuaim. Is tá na cnámha le feiceáil anois faoi dheireadh.
Dá mbeadh Seamus Heaney anseo anois, bheadh dán aige faoi. Ní bheadh sé mar an gcéanna le Tollund Man. Léireodh sé go fileata screadanna ón gcré, na pianta ocrais mar mhacallaí, an poll dorcha damanta a itheann máthair nuair a ghoidtear a leanbh uaithi, croíthe óga caite i salachar ag dream saofa gan croí ar bith.
Ba chóir go mbeadh na gárdaí ag cuardach gach Mother & Child Home, Teach na mBocht agus gach Magdalene Laundry agus a leithéid sa tír, ag treabhadh go dtí go bhfaighfidh siad na cnámha eile. Is Crime Scene iad uilig.
Fuair mé an t-eolas sa chuid seo ó alt le ó Cahir O’Doherty foilsithe 1/7/2014
There is a growing international scandal around the history of The Home, a grim 1840’s workhouse in Tuam in Galway built on seven acres that was taken over in 1925 by the Bon Secours sisters, who turned it into a Mother and Baby home for “fallen women.”
The long abandoned site made headlines around the world this week when it was revealed that a nearby septic tank contained the bodies of up to eight hundred infants and children, secretly buried without coffins or headstones on unconsecrated ground between 1925 and 1961.
****http://www.irishcentral.com/opinion/cahirodoherty/Nuns-join-Irish-bankers-in-avoiding-justice-over-Magdalene-payments.html
Now a local historian has stepped forward to outline the terrible circumstances around so many lost little lives.
Catherine Corless, the local historian and genealogist, remembers the Home Babies well. “They were always segregated to the side of regular classrooms,” Corless tells IrishCentral. “By doing this the nuns telegraphed the message that they were different and that we should keep away from them.
“They didn’t suggest we be nice to them. In fact if you acted up in class some nuns would threaten to seat you next to the Home Babies. That was the message we got in our young years,” Corless recalls.
Now a dedicated historian of the site, as a schoolgirl Corless recalls watching an older friend wrap a tiny stone inside a bright candy wrapper and present it as a gift to one of them.
“When the child opened it she saw she’d been fooled,” Corless says. “Of course I copied her later and I tried to play the joke on another little Home girl. I thought it was funny at the time.”
But later – years later – Corless realized that the children she taunted had nobody. “Years after I asked myself what did I do to that poor little girl that never saw a sweet? That has stuck with me all my life. A part of me wants to make up to them.”
Surrounded by an eight-foot high wall, Tuam, County Galway locals say that they saw little to nothing of the daily life of The Home or of the pregnant young mothers who arrived and left it without a word over the decades.
In the few surviving black and white photographs taken at the site no child is smiling. Instead they simply frown at the camera, their blank stares suggesting the terrible conditions.
A local health board inspection report from April 1944 recorded 271 children and 61 single mothers in residence, a total of 333 in a building that had a capacity for 243.
The report described the children as “emaciated,” “pot-bellied,” “fragile” with “flesh hanging loosely on limbs.” The report noted that 31 children in the “sun room and balcony” were “poor, emaciated and not thriving.” The effects of long term neglect and malnutrition were observed repeatedly.
Children died at The Home at the rate of one a fortnight for almost 40 years, one report claims. Another appears to claim that 300 children died between 1943 and 1946, which would mean two deaths a week in the isolated institution.
In The Home’s 36 years of operation between 1926 and 1961 some locals told the press this week of unforgettable interactions with its emaciated children, who because of their “sinful” origins were considered socially radioactive and treated as such.
One local said: “I remember some of them in class in the Mercy Convent in Tuam – they were treated marginally better than the traveler children. They were known locally as the “Home Babies.” For the most part the children were usually gone by school age – either adopted or dead.”
Thanks to Corless’ efforts we now know the names and fates of up to 796 forgotten infants and children who died there, thanks to her discovery of their death records when researching The Home’s history.
“First I contacted the Bon Secours sisters at their headquarters in Cork and they replied they no longer had files or information about The Home because they had left Tuam in 1961 and had handed all their records over to the Western Health Board.”
Undaunted, Corless turned to The Western Health Board, who told her there was no general information on the daily running of the place.
“Eventually I had the idea to contact the registry office in Galway. I remembered a law was enacted in 1932 to register every death in the country. My contact said give me a few weeks and I’ll let you know.”
“A week later she got back to me and said do you really want all of these deaths? I said I do. She told me I would be charged for each record. Then she asked me did I realize the enormity of the numbers of deaths there?”
The registrar came back with a list of 796 children. “I could not believe it. I was dumbfounded and deeply upset,” says Corless. “There and then I said this isn’t right. There’s nothing on the ground there to mark the grave, there’s nothing to say it’s a massive children’s graveyard. It’s laid abandoned like that since it was closed in 1961.”
****http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Memorial-campaign-underway-for-forgotten-grave-of-800-babies-in-Galway.html
The certificates Corless received record each child’s age, name, date – and in some cases – cause of death. “I have the full list and it’s going up on a plaque for the site, which we’re fundraising for at the moment. We want it to be bronze so that it weathers better. We want to do it in honor of the children who were left there forgotten for all those years. It’s a scandal.”
Corless believes that nothing was said or done to expose the truth because people believed illegitimate children didn’t matter. “That’s what really hurts and moved me to do something,” she explains.
During its years of operation the children of The Home were referred to as “inmates” in the press. It was believed by the clergy that the harsh conditions there were in themselves a form of corrective penance. The state, the church and their families all failed these women, Corless contends.
But even now the unexpected difficulty that the local committee Corless has joined to fundraise for a plaque to remember the dead children suggests that not everyone wants to confront the truth about the building’s tragic past.
“I do blame the Catholic Church,” says Corless. “I blame the families as well but people were afraid of the parish priest. I think they were brainwashed. I suppose the lesson is not to be hiding things. To face up to reality.
“My fear is that if things aren’t faced now it’s very easy to slide back into this kind of cover-up again. I want the truth out there. If you give people too much power it’s dangerous.”
Living and dying in a culture of shame and silence for decades, the Home Babies’ very existence was considered an affront to Ireland and God.
It was a different time, some defenders argued this week, omitting to mention that the stigmatizing silence that surrounded The Home was fostered by clerics. Indeed the religious orders were so successful at silencing their critics that for decades even to speak of The Home was to risk contagion.
And now that terrifying era of shame and silence is finally lifting, we are left to ask what all their lonesome suffering was in aid of, and what did it actually achieve?
To donate to the memorial for the mothers and babies of The Home, contact Catherine Corless at catherinecorless@hotmail.com.
I dtuarascáil ón mBord Sláinte feictear go raibh 271 páistí agus 61 máithreacha singil i “Home’ i dTuaim, sin daoine 333 in áit do 243. Dar leis an dtuarascáil bhí na páistí “emaciated, pot-bellied, fragile” le “flesh hanging loosely on limbs.” Rinne sé tagairt do 31 páistí i ‘ngrianán’ a bhí “poor, emaciated and not thriving.” Arís agus arís eile tá tuairisc ar cheal cúraim agus easpa cothaithe.
Is cuimhin le cuid le muintir na háite cuid de na páistí mar amantaí chuaigh cuid acu ar scoil cé go raibh an cuid is mó acu marbh nó díolta roimh aois dul ar scoil. Is cuimhin leo páistí stiúgtha is nár chóir dóibh labhairt leo mar tháinig siad ó pheaca mar a tugadh le fios dóibh é.
Sna meáin ag an am tugadh ‘inmates‘ ar na páistí!
Níorbh páistí ná daoine iad ach ‘inmates,‘ dar leo.
An cuid seo den scéal ón suíomh seo.
Nuair a bhain Éire a saoirse amach i 1922 bhí an Eaglais i gceannas ar na hinstitiúidí le gréasáin acu le deighleáil le gach gné de saol na nGael. Na scoileanna agus na hospidéil acu, bhí an chumhacht acu sa tír. Maidir le ‘Fadhb’ na máithreacha singil, bhí institúidí acu le deighleáil leis sin chomh maith. An ceann is mó ná Saint Patrick’s Mother & Baby Home gar go Dubh Linn. Ar fud na tíre bhí tithe móra acu le na peacaí & iad difriúil a choinneáil iontu taobh thiar de na ballaí móra, as radharc. Ba phríosúnaigh iad in ainneoin na hainmneach cosúil le Mother & Baby.
Tugadh cuireadh ón Rialtas dóibh i 1922, de réir na Sisters of the Scared Hearts of Jesus and Mary, teacht ó Londain le deighleáil le fadhb na máithreacha singil. Cheannaigh siad feirm i mBessborough i gCorcaigh agus b’shin an chéad Mother & Baby Home acu sa tír. Ansin go Sean Ross Abbey leo agus ansin go Manor i mBaile na gCros i gCo. na hIarmhí.
An íomhá seo ón Sunday World 14/6/2014 Cuid den liosta de 796 leanaí
Ba chara le De Valera McQuaid a bhí i gceannas ar an Eaglais sa tír agus faoi McQuaid ó 1940 – 1972 d’fhás na coireanna, fuath ban agus céasadh. Dialathas nimhneach. Tháinig Stá is Eaglais le chéile i stíl faististeach. ba le De Valera an Irish Press agus ba leis an rialtas an raidió. Bhí cinsearacht i ngach áit. Idir 1932 agus 1960 bhí tuairim is 1% den tír i bpriosúin gan an tideal priosún orthu. Na Magdalenes, Scoileanna ‘Saothar,’ Tithe na nGealt srl. B’shin níos mó ná an Rúis faoi Stalin.
Rugadh Eamon de Valera mar George de Valero i Nua Eabhrac in ospidéal Nursery & Child. Bhí a mháthair singil.
Scríobh Joyce (cinsearacht air ar ndóigh) go raibh Éire & an Eaglais mar Christ and Caesar hand in glove. Le De Valera & McQuaid bhí sé níos measa fós. Thug an Rialtas airgead don Eaglais nuair a bhí bochtannas sa tír.
Rugadh ar a laghad 100,000 leanaí do mháithreacha singil idir 1922 agus an lá atá inniu ann & goideadh a leanaí uathu. Is cuimhin liom nuair a rugadh mo pháistí. Níl aon ghrá sa domhan níos láidre ná an grá idir máthair & leanbh. Is céasadh uafásach leanbh a ghoideadh ó mháthair. Scábhaíocht, céasadh, ag díol páistí agus dúnmharú. Coireanna na hEaglaise.
Fuair i bhfad níos mó páistí sna Homes bás ná taobh amuigh dóibh.
% na páistí a fuair bás do mháithreacha pósta : do mháithreacha singil
1924: 6.5% : 31.5%
1925: 6.2% : 28.7%
1926: 6.7% : 32.2%
1927: 6.4% : 28.8%
1928: 6.0% : 30.7%
1929: 6.3% : 29.5%
I Sean Ross Abbey sa chéad bhlain fuair leath de na leanaí bás.
Rugadh 120 i 1930, fuair 60 acu bás.
% a fuair bás
1930: 50%
1933: 17%
1940: 24.3%
1941: 26.2%.
1942: 43.1%
1943: 29.8%.
1944: 33.7%
1945: 27.6%
1946: 18.5%
1947: 9.6%
1948: 9.6%
Sa tír ar fad
I 1948 4.7% : 14.7%
Cheap an dochtúir John Cunningham i UCD ag an am nárbh fhadhb í seo!
I Sean Ross Abbey tá cnámha d’idir 1000 ►1200 leanaí is a nainmneacha caillte.
Bessborough:
Idir 1922 agus 1996
Dhiúltaigh na siúracha Sacred Heart & an H.S.E. aon eolas a thabhairt faoi na páistí marbh ann. Ceaptar gur rugadh idir 8,000 – 10,000 leanaí ann ach ní fios i ndáiríre.
Ina leabhar, To Cure and To Care (Glendale 1989), scríobh an dochtúir James Deeny faoin % ard de na páistí a bhí ag fáil bháis i mBessboro. Nuair a thug sé cuairt ar an áit bhí an cuma air go raibh gach rud togha ach nuair a d’iarr sé orthu na ploideanna a bhaint de la leanaí bhí drochbhail ar chuile dhuine acu.
I 1944 rugadh 180 leanaí ann agus fuair níos mó ná 100 bás. Dúirt sé leo an áit a dhúnadh ach níor dhún siad í. Lean siad ar aghaidh ar feadh 40 bliana. Níor chaill an dochtúir a phost mar bhí tacaíocht an Papal Nuncio (Meiriceánach) aige.
I mBessborough tá cnámha 2000+ Tá drochbhail ar an áit ina bhfuil siad. Tá mná rialta fós san áit sin.
Baile na gCros:
Dúiltíonn an H.S.E theas eolas faoin áit seo a roinnt.
Rugadh idir 2,800 agus 3,000+ leanaí ansin. Tá ar a laghad cnámha 300-500 leanaí ansin.
An seans go bhfaighfeadh do pháiste bás sna háiteacha seo
1944: 44.6% Bessborogh
1944: 33.7%** Sean Ross Abbey
1944: 9.1% Baile na gCros
Seo iad na huimhreacha atá againn ach i ndáiríre bhí sé i bhfad níos airde. Níl marbh-bhreith san áireamh anseo.
Ní raibh na Siúracha cáilithe don jab a bhí siad ag déanamh agus ba cuma leo mar ba pheacaí iad na máithreacha agus ní raibh sna leanaí ach fianiase den pheaca.
Ní bean rialta nó dhó a bhí as bealach anseo. Seo tionscnamh le airgead a dhéanamh. Bhí na mílte mná rialta is sagairt is easpaig bainteach ann.
Goideadh thar 100,000 páistí óna máithreacha. Ní fios go díreach cé mhéad a fuair bás. Tá a nainmneacha caillte agus is coir é sin freisin.
Ná ceap go bhfuil feabhas tagtha ar an Eaglais. Níl siad ag dul ag cabhrú leis an gcoir a fheabhsú ná fiú a admháil. Is Dialathas fós an tír.
Tá mo pháistí slán bld ach chuile uair a théim ar aid go hÉirinn feicim an chumhacht atá ag an Eaglais agus an drochmheas aici ar na daoine . Ní ceart ná cóir é. Seans go bhfuil 10,000 páistí a fuair bás sna háiteachaí seo ar fad, 800 acu i dTuaim.
An coir is measa i stair na tíre. Cuid de na máithreacha éignithe agus cuid acu 12 bliana d’aois agus in áit cúnamh fuair siad priosún, céasadh, sclábhaíocht, a leanaí goidthe nó básaithe.
Le léamh:
Banished Babies le Mike Milotte (New Island, second edition 2011). Alt le Mike Milotte sa The Sunday Business Post magazine, 2/9/2012, l 19, 20, 21 & 22.
The Light in the Window le June Goulding (Poolebeg Press 1998).
Occasions of Sin le Professor Diarmaid Ferriter (Profile Books 2009).
Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and the Nation’s Architecture of Containment le Professor James Smith (Manchester University Press 2008).
To Cure and to Care le Doctor James Deeny (Glendale 1989).
Taighde Professor Maria Luddy of Warwick University % mortlaíochta Sean Ross Abbey 1930.
Suffer The Little Children le Mary Raftery & Eoin O’Sullivan (New Island 1999)
The Irish Gulag le Bruce Arnold (Gill & McMillan Ltd. 2009).
Secret Love le Phyllis Hamilton (Mainstream Publishing 1995).
BIlleog Eolais Barnardo’s (Barnardos ó na 1980s).
The Lost Child of Philomena Lee le Martin Sixsmith (Macmillan 2009).
Hannah’s Shame le Derek Leinster (self published 2005).
Destiny Unknown le Derek Leinster (self published 2005).
Freedom of Angels le Bernadette Fahy (O’Brien Press Ltd. 1999).
Ireland in the Twentieth Century le Tim Pat Coogan (Arrow 2004).
De Valera, Long Fellow, Long Shadow le Tim Pat Coogan (Arrow 1995)
Coming Together: An Adoptee’s Story le Martha Shideler (Tiger eye publications 2011)
Primal Wound le Nancy Verrier (Gateway Press Inc. 1993)
Scannáin/ cláracha :
Sinners (Dir. Aisling Walsh. BBC Northern Ireland 2002) le fáil ar Youtube
Primetime (RTE 1) A gcuid cláracha faoi na Mother & Baby Homes
The Magdalene Sisters (Dir. Peter Mullen, 2002)
Sex in a Cold Climate (Dir. Steve Humphries. Channel 4. 1998)
Suffer the Little Children (Dir. & Scríofa ag Mary Raftery 1999).
Adoption Stories. Ar TV3 le Sharon Lawless
Song for a Raggy Boy (le Aisling Walsh (Sinners). XV 2002)
Buíochas le ARN as an eolas seo go léir.
