Fadó fadó

Although, not that long ago...

Photo by Clarisse Meyer on Unsplash

Figured I should put a bit of Irish in at some point on my blog. [Fun fact: Fadó fadó means ‘long ago’] A lot has happened since I last wrote, despite that being a little over a week ago! The uncertainty has gone, which, first and foremost is great news to me in itself. To put a long story short, I hadn’t done much with Project Infant since late April as I wasn’t sure if a small technicality on Irish Genealogy was going to result in Project Infant sinking or swimming, but after a lot of back and forth between different people and a lot of waiting, I got confirmation that the work I’ve done at Project Infant safe. (That’s why I hadn’t said anything last time in case I jinxed anything. I wasn’t taking any chances)

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Then, during the week - the Irish Independent wrote about an update to the Tuam exhumation, reiterating the confirmation from Daniel MacSweeney that it will begin in February 2025, but also only stated that a mere six samples had been collected.

Me, being my part-loudmouth self, had tweeted (in a bit of frustration too) about that if we [as a society] were more open about mother and baby homes, then more samples would have been collected and there wouldn’t be so much shame still surrounding it.

However, I think one issue that is that before a shovel has ever hit the soil, they’ve shot themselves in the foot. In this article (worth reading in its entirety), they discuss the technology that Forensic Science Ireland [who are dealing with the identification of remains] will acquire.

From the Irish Times:

The technology will allow for DNA extraction from a “range of challenging forensic sample types such as degraded blood, bones and teeth”, a request for tender document from FSI states.

The new DNA sequencing method will allow FSI scientists, at a minimum, to match remains to “third degree relatives”, a category which includes great-grandchildren, first cousins and half-nieces and nephews.

~ Conor Gallagher, Irish Times

But, you’re thinking, well that has to only be a positive thing, right? Just under that, was what FSI are actually going to do.

However, the legislation governing the Tuam investigation, the Institutional Burials Act 2022, provides for the collection of DNA only from closer relatives such as grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces.

~ Conor Gallagher, Irish Times

Despite this technology allowing them to cross reference them in databases such as FamilyTreeDNA and GEDMatch, they are also not choosing to do so either. So, due to legislation, I (strongly) feel that more could absolutely be done (and that is presented in that article), but because of it - it won’t be done. A conversation with a journalist later, that led to this piece being done in the Irish Mail on Sunday, which also featured genetic genealogist, Claire Bradley. I hope you can read the image, but if not — it has an online version here.

The example that I gave of why this measure was so restrictive was if you had a child who died in Tuam in 1961 [the year it closed], say the mother was 18 or 19. That would put her at the early 1940s. She may not be alive anymore, she may not have had other kids, there are too many outcomes with life and all that comes with it, that may prevent a child / mother who died at Tuam from being identified. The mother’s parents would be born perhaps 1900s / 1910s / 1920s.

But, let’s not get too hasty, let’s see who in this position may be able to give DNA [to identify a Tuam child]:

Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces.

Well, aunts and uncles, I didn’t want to cross out, as they could very well be alive. But, look at it from this angle — how many (if any) of those above, would know about their connection to Tuam. No matter how long I go on for (and I could easily go on and on) - if people do not talk about this, how are we ever going to identify any of these children?

Except, the tribulations of this whole ordeal don’t end there. If you are lucky enough to even be eligible to give a sample, there’s also a part of the legislation [where I did not pick up on this immediately, so I’ll give a hat-tip to Thérèse - @teabiccy on this one] where you have to provide a letter from your other family members, that they don’t mind you giving a sample. So regardless of the obvious fact being you are choosing to give a sample, it could all be a disaster if someone in your family were to object to it.

So, despite how positive this all looks from an outside view, when you look beyond that, it’s clear there was plenty of room for improvement, and that ship sailed in 2022, so it can’t be reversed / altered either. Someone on Twitter even suggested doing [genetic] genealogy like what has been done in the United States to identify John & Jane Does.

Heck, even Othram wanted to get involved, and they showed more interest in this in a matter of minutes than the Irish government has in a lot of issues relating to mother and baby homes, which is absolutely depressing.

Willing and able… more than some.

One more thing I had up my sleeve was to try and illustrate it for people. So, if you happen to be in (or have ancestral roots) in Galway and Mayo. Please take a look at this map and look into your own tree. You could be the key to identifying a set of remains at Tuam. I was alarmed that there were babies who died in Tuam who were from Bohola and Kiltimagh, where my paternal grandparents came from, with one surname [Lavin] showing up a lot in my family tree. It’s made me start to look into see if I am related to that child.

The appeal for giving DNA samples will be later in the year & I’ll try to keep people posted.

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But, I digress — as today is yet another milestone. Today marks two years since Project Infant began.

So, I feel I need to give a thank you. Thank you to you, reader — who takes time out of your day to read what I have to say about children parts of society would rather forget, to ensure that doesn’t happen. Whether that’s Patricia Brennan or my Mum’s own story or me venting about roadblocks that I hit in my research - thank you. When you share my blog posts / tweets on social media, it helps me so much. It helps people to find me & I get to help them. But, none of this could have been possible without every single volunteer who helps me at Project Infant. To Aisling, Alec, Anna, Carmel C, Carmel O’D, Cate, Clare, Jess, John C, [the two!] John Ms, Kathryn, Lauren, Lisa R M, Lisa W, Lorna, Mairead, Mary M, Mel, Melanie, Monica, Nicky, Paul, Phoebe, Rachel & Theresina — thank you all.

If you would like to work with me and these amazing volunteers, you can find out how to do so here.

But, we’ve got plenty in store for you - which I was hoping to have up in time for the second anniversary - but it wasn’t to be. However, here’s a look at what the stats will look like once it is all up. [Image on left, is current. Image on right, is projected — quite a difference, right?]

Onwards & upwards!