I hope she’s in America, not in the tank

‘YOU wouldn’t do it to an animal, throw them in to a septic tank,’ says Tuam survivor, Peter Mulryan, who wants the full site at Tuam to be excavated and DNA tests done on all remains.

One of those bodies could he his sister, although the 73-year-old prays that she may have been adopted by a couple in America and had a very different fate.

Two years ago, he discovered he had a sister who was also born in the home. Marian-Bridget Mulryan was one of the 796 children whose whereabouts are unknown. She was issued a death certificate in 1955 and her remains could possibly be in the grounds of the old home.

Although given the recent acknowledgement from the Government that illegal adoptions had taken place and falsified birth certs issued, Peter is holding out hope that his sister could still be alive and living in America, unaware of her past.

‘I have a cert that said Marian died from convulsions. But the woman who signed it just worked at the home. She wasn’t a medical professional.

‘She could be in America. I’ve been trying to get her file from Tusla but they won’t hand anything over. I’ve been up seven or eight times in the High Court, but nothing came from it. We’re a year and a half waiting. But I am trying to think of the brighter side... that she’s not there at the site. But we have to get them out of that ground... It’s so dehumanising to have done that.’

Now living in Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, with his wife of 30 years, Kathleen, they have seven children and nine grandchildren.

His own upbringing was very unhappy, having been boarded out of the home run by the Bon Secours nuns at just four years old. He remembers very little of his time in Tuam, but vividly recalls the day he was taken to a farm outside of the town.

‘It was a dreary day...The walls of the house were damp. There was a woman in her 70s and her son was in his 50s. She had a bit of respect for me but he was a brute.’ Peter was put to work on the farm but was horrifically beaten by his foster father.

He was never given clean clothes and was covered in lice as a child. ‘I wasn’t allowed to go to the neighbours in case I’d talk about what was going on in the home. There was never a birthday or a Christmas present, only abuse. It was miserable.’

Peter escaped – aged 33 – but 40 years on, he still bears the impact of his life in Tuam and a struggle to find a sister her never knew.

‘We were second-class citizens in the eyes of the church and the eyes of the community. They wanted to keep us down like we were nobodies.’