THIS IS A COP OUT, SAY SURVIVORS

‘The illegal adoptions ignored in the report’

SURVIVORS of the mother and baby homes have said they are disappointed with the Commission’s report, which they said ‘ignored’ illegal adoptions.

An umbrella group consisting of Adoption Rights Now, The Bethany Home Survivors, Beyond Adoption I reland, Adopted Illegally Ireland, The Castlepollard Mother & Baby home group, Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse and the Adoption Coalition Worldwide said the report was ‘fundamentally incomplete’.

‘It ignores the larger issue of the forced separation of single mothers and their babies since the foundation of the state as a matter of

‘It was profoundly anti-women’

official state policy,’ the group said in a statement.

‘While much of this policy was implemented in Mother and Baby homes, tens of thousands who were born outside the institutions investigated by this inquiry, have been excluded; particularly those who were illegally adopted.

‘The numbers are staggering as up to 15,000 people may have been illegally adopted by rogue adoption agencies who were allowed free rein back in the day, and now have been given a free pass to escape their criminal behaviour.’

The group said it was a ‘cop out’ to explain what happened in the homes as misogyny, or a massive societal failure.

‘What occurred was but an aspect of the newly established State which was profoundly anti-women both in its laws and in its culture and out of which emerged the Mother and Baby Homes,’ it said.

‘While it was wrong for families and others to send vulnerable unmarried pregnant girls to be incarcerated in Mother and Baby Homes, the homes were handsomely paid by the taxpayers of Ireland, and the nuns and Protestant women who administered them on behalf of the state were not entitled to deprive the young girls of their legal and Constitutional rights and the right to be treated with dignity and respect.’

The group called on the Government to honour its commitments to enhanced medical cards and the long overdue funds for memorials.

Paul Jude Redmond, of the Castlepollard Mother and Baby home group, said: ‘The Taoiseach has let it be known that he intends to issue an apology on behalf of the

State, but they will be hollow words without concrete action to back them up.

‘Illegally adopted people must have their basic human rights vindicated by the state immediately. They are entitled to the truth without further delay.’

Theresa Hiney Tinggall, of Adopted Illegally Ireland, said: ‘Illegally adopted people have been left out of this investigation without any explanation, therefore this report is not fully inclusive.’

Catherine Corless, whose work in uncovering the deaths of babies in Tuam Mother and Baby Home led to the report, said the survivors had felt let down by the report and the Taoiseach’s response to it.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, she said Micheál Martin had put the blame on society.

‘Micheal Martin has let them down again, and from the reaction I am hearing, they are very disappointed,’ she said.