Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Rape & incest victims thrown into hell holes
» Rape & incest victims thrown into institutions, new report finds » Youngest girl was aged just 12 as some survivors want public inquiry » A long way to go to support those who were abused: O’neill
VICTIMS of rape and incest were put in homes for unmarried mums and their children in Northern Ireland, a report found yesterday.
Women claimed they were subjected to labour such as scrubbing floors during the final stages of pregnancy and were described as “fallen” and stigmatised.
Some survivors are pressing for a speedy public inquiry but there are concerns surrounding the impact on some who suffered life-changing trauma of giving evidence.
More than 10,500 women and girls entered mother and baby homes over a 68-year period from 1922. The youngest was just 12.
A “victim-centred” independent investigation was ordered by Stormont ministers and should be completed within six months.
First Minister Arlene Foster pledged the voices of survivors would be heard “loudly and clearly”.
She added: “It was not their fault that they were raped or the victims of incest yet they were the ones who suffered and it appears to me that those who perpetrated the crime went scot-free.”
Michelle O’neill said it was a “milestone” day with publication of a working group’s review.
She added: “Today represents a milestone, the first stage in a journey. We have a long way to go in terms of supporting survivors.”
Around a third of those admitted were under 19 and most were in their 20s.
A research report into operation of the institutions published yesterday examined eight mother and baby homes, a number of former workhouses and four Magdalene Laundries.
There are questions around consent on adoption JUDITH GILLESPIE YESTERDAY
REGRET
Mrs Foster said: “It is with huge regret that we acknowledge the pain of those experiences and the hurt caused to women and girls who did nothing more than be pregnant outside of marriage, some of them criminally against their will.
“None of us should be proud of how our society shunned women in these circumstance and of their experiences while resident in these institutions.”
Around 4% of babies were either stillborn or died shortly after birth across the entire period, the independent report said.
An estimated 32% of infants were sent to baby homes following separation from their birth mother.
Other babies were fostered. Around a quarter were placed for adoption.
Retired senior police officer Judith Gillespie, who led the review, said survivors would finally have control over their own choices.
She added: “There are questions around consent regarding adoption, questions around cross-border adoptions and certainly big questions around mortality
rates of infants taken to be adopted or taken away from the mother in these institutions and we do not know what the outcomes were.”
The research was undertaken by a team of academics from Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.
It gives an account of individual and collective experiences of the institutions and highlights the need for further examination of a number of important issues.
It is estimated that more than 14,000 girls and women went
through the doors of and baby homes, Magdalene Laundries and industrial homes between 1922 and 1990. This figure is more than double the number previously thought.
Around 10,500 women entered mother and baby homes. At least the same number of children would have been born to the women, more assuming some were twins.
Girls and women were sent to the homes by their families or church leaders under a shadow of stigma, secrecy and shame, believing they had no other choice due to being pregnant out of wedlock.
Some were victims of rape, incest or unlawful carnal knowledge.
Meanwhile, 3,000 women were sent to Magdalene Laundries with numbers peaking in the 1930s.
Some were referred by their famimother lies, others by priests and some by state agencies, including the courts, police, probation, welfare and GPS.
These included women who suffered with alcohol dependency, teenage girls described as having behaviour issues, some with learning difficulties and some from the mother and baby homes to serve “penance”.
The facilities were described as an austere environment where women
We can’t be proud of how we treated women ARLENE FOSTER YESTERDAY Today represents milestone, first step in a journey
MICHELLE O’NEILL YESTERDAY
were punished by being made to stand while eating meals, and kneeling and reciting misdemeanours. Names were taken away and new ones assigned.
Some women died in the laundries after spending the majority of their lives doing unpaid, strenuous labour.
A further 707 women entered an industrial institution run by the Salvation Army at Thorndale in Belfast which was described as being used as an alternative to prison, like a probation home.
Most people had shorter stays and it was also used as emergency accommodation for girls and young women who were victims of sexual crime or domestic violence.
It was described as being poorly funded, with staff who were not sufficiently trained to deal with people with complex needs. The Catholic orders which ran institutions were also described as not being adequately trained to look after those in their charge.
Those examined in the report included Marianville in Belfast and Marianvale in Newry, both run by the Good Shepherd Sisters, Mater Dei in Belfast and others run by boards which included Protestant clergy such as the Belfast Midnight Mission at Malone Place in South Belfast.
In addition, the report looked at four Magdalene Laundry-type institutions, including three run by the Good Shepherd Sisters as well as the Salvation Army Industrial Home at Thorndale.
An interdepartmental working group, chaired by Ms Gillespie, was set
up by the Stormont Executive in 2016 to look at institutions which were not covered by the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.
The research cannot be directly compared with what happened in the Republic, where a commission of investigation was carried out.
Researchers in Northern Ireland had no legal powers to compel those associated with former institutions to co-operate.
Other key differences between Northern Ireland and the Republic is that women generally stayed in institutions north of the border for shorter periods of time – around a few weeks before leaving after the birth of the baby – and tended to give birth in hospitals rather than in the homes.