QUERY ON MOTHER AND BABY RECORDS
THE announcement by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth that the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters had retrieved the backup tapes containing the audio recordings from the confidential committee saw North Louth Senator, Erin McGreehan, asking the Minister for ‘clarity regarding what the Department are planning with the most sensitive of records.’
Senator McGreehan said, ‘I am relieved that the backup tapes were retrievable. However, it is very important that the tapes are dealt with sensitively. These tapes are confidential; it was envisaged that the tapes were not to be heard by anyone else, only those who took the testimonies in the confidential committee. The witnesses were given the guarantee that their words are confidential. eighty individuals have requested that the tapes be redacted and that will be done. Witnesses are entitled to their own story and entitled not to share it with anyone.’
‘I would now ask is it appropriate that these tapes are all placed into the archive? I believe the witnesses are the only people entitled to their personal information and their words need to be protected. I have written to the Minister asking for clarity regarding these tapes. This is such an incredibly sensitive matter and I look forward to working with the Minister to ensure their audio testimonies remain private.’
‘ These tapes contain their words, their history and it is their right not to share if they wish.’ The Senator added, ‘ There are calls to extend the life of the Commission but to what end. The Commission is now clouded in darkness - it is a very sad indictment of nearly six years of existence with such an important job to do. The contradictions and the seemingly lack of clear procedures and methodology has all led to this Report and the Commission being put in doubt.
‘ The advice is that if the Commission is extended, the consequences of that would be that the Database and Archive may not be able to be passed to the Minister. The relevance of this is that the Subject Access Requests, where people through GDPR legislation are able to get all their records, would be delayed. The women and adoptees cannot wait any longer.’
‘We were the guinea pigs. The framework was in place but no-one had walked the road before us, we were flying blind.’ These are the words of Mary Matthews about the generation of women who came of age in the 1980s.
While trailblazing feminists like Mary Robinson, Marian Finucane, Nell McCaffery and others had fought for equal rights for women in the 1970s, Mary found herself part of the generation negotiating the freedoms they had won.
‘If anyone was going to bring a moment of change, it was going to be educated women like them. It was never going to be women on the factory floor or the checkout. It was their responsibility to effect legislative feminism and it was our responsibility to do what we could with that, to embrace the emancipation. It didn’t all work out perfectly, but we did very well for a group of women who were flying blind.’
On leaving school in the mid-80s, when Ireland was in the midst of an economic recession, Mary like many of her generation found employed in local government.
She worked in the planning department of Louth County Council, which at the time, was ‘very male and very patriarchal’.‘All the planners, engineers and technical people were men and all the admin staff were women.’
She then joined the Bank of Ireland, working in the Business and Agricultural Centre. While the bosses were male, there were also ambitious women on the staff who were looking for promotion.
A move to the American company Quantum, where the wages were much better, proved an eye opener for Mary. Here women were given opportunities to advance their careers and to work in areas which were traditionally seen as male roles. While she enjoyed working there, Mary decided it was time to do a bit of travelling.
‘I had bought a house when I was just 24-years-old. I remember that among my females friends that was really something to own a house without a man.’ She rented the house to a young single mother who had turned up at her doorstep, after being kicked out of her home, and went to Australia. ‘ That worked out well for both of us.’ Once in Australia, Mary found herself working in the world of high finance for a hedge fund.
‘Before I left for Australia I was warned by Irish men that Australian men were chauvinists and to expect rife sexism. I experienced the opposite; the men I worked with were professional, hard working and successful - and good work colleagues to both genders. The company I worked for had two thousand employees and I got the sense that the world was run differently than I had ever imagined. I suddenly became aware of how economics work.’
‘I came back home, had my son, and came to work at Dundalk Institute of Technology and have been here for nearly twenty years.’
Like many women balancing motherhood and a career, Mary turned on her own mother for support, not just for childcare but also for moral support and encouragement for her endeavours.
‘My current employer is a family friendly and woman friendly employer. I could take a career break, work part-time or reduced hours and further education is funded; these policies suit women with young children particularly and I am very grateful that I was able to avail of a work schedule almost tailored to suit me.’
Alongside her work as a Research Administration Officer in DkIT, Mary is a published researcher in her own right, with papers including
‘Spouse as Contingent Liability - the impact of divorce on SMEs’ and Pension Rights for women working in the home’.
Mary strongly believes that education is key to women being able to determine their own destiny.‘My generation were lucky. We were allowed to be as much as we wanted to be. However, when I went travelling I didn’t know too many people who did that. It wasn’t commonplace back then and neither was the aspiration to own your own home without a man.’
Her advice to today’s young women. ‘ Think for yourselves.
Architecture has long been notorious as a profession where it is difficult for women to advance. Ardee native Aoife McGee is one of those who have managed to carve out a successful career while juggling with motherhood, but she would be the first to say that it isn’t easy.
A past-pupil of St Vincent’s Secondary School, Aoife is currently living in Belfast with her husband and fellow architect Fergal Murray, who is originally from Forkhill, and their two young children.
‘We both went to Queens University in Belfast but actually met in Vicars in Dundalk.’
Her Dad Patrick McGee was an engineer and her Mum Bridie, who worked as a psychiatric nurse, ‘was a really good artist.’ When she was just sixteen, Aoife was asked to design a window for the church in Ardee and created a design based on artwork of Mainie Jellett ‘Madonna in Eire’.
‘I always had this is in me,’ she says.
Aoife is conscious of the large number of women who drop out of the profession before they are even fully qualified.
‘At entry level and graduation, it’s 50/50 male and female students but when you reach registration level it drops to just over a quarter women. It’s a huge decrease.’
‘It’s when it comes to the registration stage that a lot of women fall out of the education stream. It seems to be the inability to manage the work/life balance and the fact there is not a very loud voice for women in the industry.’
That it can take up to ten years to be fully qualified as an architect and that long hours are required to establish oneself in the early years of a career, doesn’t lend well with family life.
‘It can be very difficult to reconcile the two,’ says Aoife, describing how she had to rush from the office to the creche to breastfed her infant who refused to take a bottle.
She would welcome the introduction of a four day week, as is the practice in some European countries, and flexitime, but notes that there is still a culture which part-time working can be seen as ‘slacking’.
Like most of us, Aoife is working from home during the pandemic, which poses its own stresses as young children always want the attention of their parents when they know they are in the house. Her husband is also working from home and while they share the task of looking after the children, it isn’t the ideal working environment.
‘It’s very, very difficult with young kids.’
Lockdown gave her time to think about what her priorities are and she has decided to step away from her work with Van Dijk Architects and to take some time out to consider the next step in her career.
‘I’ve really enjoyed working with them and got great experience working on a lot of different projects. It’s going to be really strange leaving, as there won’t be any farewell party or anyway to say goodbye to my colleagues.’
Aoife also lectures at the University of Ulster. ‘It’s all online at this stage which is very strange. The practice of architecture is very communal and there’s a need to bounce ideas in a collegial way.’ She feels sorry for her students who are missing out so much of the college experience, both academically and socially.
She is very conscious of the need for women architects to support one and other at all stages of their career.
‘I’m a member of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and as part of that, am involved in the Women in Architecture Group.’
‘We started an Women In Architecture page on Instagram for International Women’s Day last year. Different women are invited to host it every week and it has grown into something beyond what we expected. It was set up to support women at all stages of their profession and we have got so much positive feedback.’
There have been contributions from women from all over the world. One quote from a Danish architect sticks with Aoife. ‘I’m not a female architect. I’m an architect.’
While she is sad to leave Van Dijk Architect, she is looking forward to the next stage of her career, and a move back to Ardee where the couple are planning to build a home for their family.