‘TUAM TRAFFICKED MY BABY BROTHERS TO U.S. FAMILIES’
THE sister of two babies born in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home believes one – and possibly both – of her brothers was trafficked to the United States through St Patrick’s Guild.
Anna Corrigan, from south Dublin, wrote to Tusla earlier this year requesting copies of files on her brothers John and William Dolan, who were both born in the now-notorious religious institution.
The mother of two was nearly 60 when she discovered her mother, Bridget Dolan, had two baby boys in the Tuam home.
John Dolan is believed to have died and been buried in the former septic tank at the Galway facility, while Anna was told by a family member that William was adopted to the US.
She has since reported both her brothers’ ‘disappearances’ to gardaí.
Anna told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘After everything we have learned about the mother and baby homes, I am very doubtful that John too, is dead.
‘I believe both of my brothers were adopted to the US and that’s where they are – they could be walking around not knowing they were adopted. I have written to Sr Frances Fahy to ask her does she own any files on my brothers, but she told me to write to Tusla.
‘I wrote to Tusla and they said write to Sr Frances.
‘It’s like one big merry-goround and they are laughing at us. Everyone knows these illegal adoptions happened and yesterday’s announcement is nothing new.
‘All this is is someone in authority actually admitting it happened. Every single children’s minister for the last few years knows about illegal adoptions, and every one of them knew about St Patrick’s Guild.
‘This is not news to us. Finding our missing relatives would be news.’
Bridget Dolan’s son, John Desmond Dolan, was born a healthy baby on February 22, 1946.
He was just one year and three months old when he was believed to have died on June 11, 1947. John’s death certificate calls him ‘a congenital idiot’.
His brother, William Joseph Dolan, was born three years later on May 21, 1950, at Galway University Hospital and was admitted with his mother to the Tuam home two weeks later.
William is marked as ‘dead’ in the nuns’ ledgers but there is no death certificate or medical certification of death or reason for his death.
However, his date of birth – as well as that of his mother – was later changed.