The struggle continues...
The never-ending fight for the survivors of these institutions continues.
Issue #3
As we near the end of February, (gosh it flies by every time, doesn’t it?) - I’ve got a bit to report back on. You may remember in Issue #2 ‘Stop it in its tracks.’, (below) I talked about a petition I had started with campaigner Carmel Cantwell.
Well, it’s been a great success so far, at the time of writing, we have reached 1,070 signatures. So if you haven’t already signed it, you can do so here. One more signature is one more voice to Cork City Council telling them that we don’t want any future development on the Bessborough grounds.
Now, I’ve given a mention to that — let me tell you what else I’ve been up to. On February 16th, The Journal hosted a panel discussion event in the Pearse Centre in Dublin. This featured a line-up which consisted of The Journal editor, Sinéad O’Carroll whom if you listen to the Redacted Lives podcast, you will have heard at the end. Also on the panel was The Journal journalist Órla Ryan, the host of the aforementioned podcast, Mary Harney, a baby who was born in the Bessborough mother and baby home and spent the first two and a half years of her life there. You can read more about Mary here. Alongside Mary, you had Terri Harrison, a mother who gave birth in Bessborough, you can read more about Terri’s story here. Finally, Social Democrats TD for West Cork, Holly Cairns was also talking about the uphill battle she was facing trying to raise these issues and fight for survivors.
I’m not entirely sure what it was, but hearing it on the podcast raised some emotions, but hearing it all in person - not on a recording, face to face was poignant altogether and you could hear the frustration and emotions coming from the panel. I got to talk with all of the panel individually afterwards which I never thought would happen. The panel was recorded so if it’s released, I’ll include it in my next issue. One of the highlights was being able to introduce myself and my work to Holly Cairns who was impressed by the explanation of the process and the reasoning behind it. It was a fantastic event & I hope there’s another one done in the future.
But, there was a vote that was still to come. February 22nd — the decision on whether to keep the Mother and Baby Homes redress scheme as is/whether to accept any amendments to the Bill. The results were 73 - 62, therefore choosing to keep the Bill as it is without many further amendments. Most of the ones that were suggested including the choice to include those who stayed in an institution for less than six months were rejected. More info on that can be found here.
It was incredibly frustrating to read, that just because for the sole reason, someone didn’t spend six months in an institution — they are excluded from compensation, but no amount of redress will compensate for the separation and trauma many endured but seeing 24,000 excluded feels like a slap in the face.
I’m still going to be fighting to protect Bessborough and find the names of those that died in the institutions across Ireland but, yeah — this is the reality for thousands of people facing this issue.