I hope that this will give me some clarity about the sister I never knew
A SURVIVOR of the Tuam mother and baby home has said he hopes DNA testing of remains at the burial site will finally give him clarity about what happened to his sister.
Peter Mulryan, 77, was speaking this week after the Government gave the green for an excavation at the site where up to 796 children may be buried.
Mr Mulryan said an excavation, perhaps by the end of this year, was the ‘first sign of positivity in six years’.
He told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I want to know where she is. She may not even be there, she may have been sold out, but I need answers. It won’t be sorted until I find her.’
In 2016, Mr Mulryan discovered, thanks to the
work of historian
Catherine Corless, that his mother Bridget had a daughter 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 it is believed her remains may still be in the old home.
Her brother has spent years pleading for exhumation in a bid to uncover the truth about his sister.
Given the acknowledgement from the Government of illegal adoptions and falsified birth certs, Mr Mulryan still holds out hope that his sister could still be alive but may have been sent to a family in
America, unaware of her past.
Speaking to the MoS in 2018, he said: ‘I have a medical 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 [State family and child agency]
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 of things; that she’s not there at the site.’
The Tuam survivor said even ruling out that his sister isn’t buried at the site would still represent progress.
Mr Mulryan told the MoS: ‘Time means nothing to the
Government, but it is so important for us siblings and survivors who have been looking for answers for so long. This could have all been done six or seven years ago at this stage but because we have pushed and pushed and pushed, now these children might get the recognition and the dignity they deserve.
‘It’s a basic human right that these children get the recognition now that they didn’t get when they were on this earth. Our mothers were not the ones at fault, it was the Church and State that has led to this.’
In response to queries from the MoS, the recently appointed Archbishop of Tuam Francis Duffy, confirmed he has met with survivors ‘and he continues to do so’.