The experiences described by former residents of mother-and-baby homes who gave evidence to the Commission of Investigation are set out in the commission's report, largely in their own words.
A woman, described in the report as 'Resident A' at Bessborough, left Ireland and travelled to London after she became pregnant in the early 1960s at the age of 18.
In London, a priest put her in touch with the Crusade of Rescue and arrangements were made for her to return to Ireland.
She felt she should have stayed in England, as she would have been able to keep her baby there. She was met at Cork Harbour by a car and a driver who brought her to Bessborough. She had never been to Cork before and knew nobody there.
"I had no idea where I was going and did not know that once I had gone there [Bessborough] I would not be able to leave again," the woman told the commission.
When she arrived at Bessborough, she said her belongings and her life savings were taken from her. She was given a canvas overall uniform. She was given a "house name".
She said she had no rights at Bessborough. There were bars on the windows and doors and she wasn't allowed to leave.
"Even without these things, it would have been impossible to leave: all of our things had been confiscated, we had no clothes and no money," she said.
"From time to time we were allowed outside, but were always escorted by nuns... They marched us around like soldiers. These are the only times I remember being allowed outside."
'Resident A' said her letters to her mother were censored by the nuns, who coerced her to write positive things about the home. She said there was a rule of silence in Bessborough and those who broke it were reprimanded.
She described getting up at 5am for mass every morning and worked and prayed for forgiveness throughout the day before she was put to bed at 9pm.
She was never paid and had to work even if she was ill.
"No excuses were ever accepted - it was as if the nuns had no hearts at all," she said.
'Resident A' said she was often put working on night duty in the labour ward. If the ward wasn't busy, she was made to scrub long, cold, stone-flagged passages on her hands and knees all through the night.
She said she only remembers getting potatoes to eat, while her 30-bed dormitory was always cold.
'Resident A' said she received no medical care during her pregnancy and never saw a doctor or a nurse: "I had none in Bessborough - no care at all. I never remember being examined."
She said that when she went into labour, she was locked in a room alone for 72 hours. She was afraid and in terrible pain and when she screamed, she was abused.
"I was screaming with pain," she said. "Three days screaming with the pain and all you got was, 'Oh you should have thought about this nine months ago.
'You have got to suffer for your sins and you have got to put up with it'. And the more you screamed the more she abused you, which I call abuse now.
"On my second day in labour I was given an injection by Sister Veronica Cleary [midwife]. To this day I do not know what the injection was, but I believe that this was what caused my baby's death and almost caused my own."
She said she overheard two nuns arguing and one accused the other of injecting her with a dirty needle, which had caused an infection. She said she developed an infection at the injection site and became unwell.
"I had an abscess half the size of a football; it was protruding and at the very end I was terribly ill," she said. "I could only sit on one side of my bottom - and painful even then to sit - and I was made to go to church, go to Holy Communion."
She said a Doctor Sutton - "a cruel individual" - was called and treated the abscess, brandishing a long thin knife in front of her.
"There was no preparation, there was nothing," she said. "He just cut you and then went out. I could hear the poison pouring on the floor. They were all just inhuman."
She said she wanted to give her son a specific name, but the nuns refused to allow her to do so as her chosen name was a "protestant name".
'Resident A' said she was forced to feed her son in a cold passageway outside the nursery. She developed an abscess on her breast and her son was being bottle fed. After two or three days he wouldn't eat.
They both became ill.
'Resident A' said her son was transferred to St Finbarr's Hospital in Cork at 19-days-old, and he died there 19 days later.
The cause of death was given as renal failure and septicaemia.
"My son died at six weeks," 'Resident A' told the commission. "My son was a beautiful, blonde-haired boy; perfect. I believe he died as a result of the neglect he suffered from those at Bessborough.
"Another woman told me that they had kept my son in a dying room. I begged the nuns to take my son to hospital, but they only did so after two weeks had passed. My son died in hospital.
"I was told by one of the girls that my baby was held in the dying room after he died and I asked where he was kept and I was told by a girl, who had a two-and-a-half-year-old baby herself that was in another part of the convent, that he was in the dying room.
"I cannot get over this and this is one of the horrors that stays with me... I wasn't prepared for this inhuman treatment."
'Resident A' says she was refused permission to attend her son's burial.
"I don't know if he was buried in a coffin," she said. "I don't know if he was buried in a gown or what he was buried in. I don't know if there were prayers said over him. I have no information."
'Resident A' said she was discharged from Bessborough a week after her son's death.
She returned to Bessborough in the early 1990s to get information about her time there. She met Sr Sarto, who worked in Bessborough as a social worker from 1981 to 1998. Sr Sarto brought her to the Bessborough cemetery and told her she believed that her baby was buried there.
The commission subsequently established that the woman's son was not buried in Bessborough.
Resident received no medical attention
Another woman who gave evidence to the commission described how she contemplated suicide when she was refused medical care at Bessborough.
She said she was forced onto a plane against her will at Heathrow Airport and flown to Cork. She had gone to London to live with her aunt when she discovered she was pregnant. The woman, described in the report as 'Resident E', was aged 18 at the time.
'Resident E' was met by two nuns at Cork Airport and brought to Bessborough.
She had her baby in the early 1970s.
She told the commission she received no medical attention of any sort while she was at Bessborough and, despite experiencing "spotting" during her pregnancy, the nuns at Bessborough refused her medical attention.
'Resident E' told the commission her boyfriend helped her escape from Bessborough but her mother found out, drove her to St Patrick's Home on the Navan Road in Dublin (Palletstown) and she gave birth there.
'Resident E' said her older sister had become pregnant previously and that "all hell broke out at home".
Her parents told her that her sister had died and that she was never to mention her name again.
'Resident E' told the commission that she and her siblings had been profoundly beaten at home, and she and her sisters were sexually abused by her father.
During her time in Bessborough, 'Resident E' says she was visited weekly by a woman from St Anne's Adoption Society, who told her that adoption would be the best option for her baby.
She "escaped" to her sister's house in Dublin with the help of her boyfriend, but her mother drove her back to St Patrick's Home when she found out.
She gave birth to her child there, who was then adopted through St Anne's Adoption Society.
Resident had no say in adoption
Another of the women who gave evidence about Bessborough to the Commission of Investigation was described in the report as 'Resident C'.
She was 18 when she became pregnant and gave birth to her baby in the early 1970s.
She said her mother instilled a deep sense of shame in her, when she discovered that her daughter was pregnant.
'Resident C' said her son was adopted, without her ever having a say in the process. She said her parents took total control over her and never allowed her express her feelings.
'Resident C' described travelling to her home town with her boyfriend to tell her parents when she discovered she was pregnant. She told the commission she felt she and her boyfriend were independent enough to deal with the situation and she didn't want her mother to interfere.
Her mother told her not to tell her father and told the teenager she would "fix this".
Following sustained parental pressure, she was admitted to Bessborough as a private patient. Her parents gave authorities at Bessborough a false name and county of origin.
'Resident C' left Bessborough and went to Dublin to be with her boyfriend.
When her parents found out they brought her home for a week and then re-admitted her to Bessborough.
'Resident C' said her mother was controlling her at this stage. She said her parents made it known to her that there was no option open to her other than adoption. The option of bringing her baby home was never discussed. She said her mother wouldn't discuss the matter with her and remained in complete denial that her daughter was having a baby.
She agreed to place her baby for adoption, but planned to return to Cork after a few days to reclaim him.
She took care of her son for 10 days at Bessborough after his birth.
On returning home, her mother made her promise that she wouldn't go back to Cork to reclaim her baby.
Her boyfriend told her he would go with her to Cork, but she told the commission she felt "fearful and shamed" because of the "damage" she had done to her family and she did not want to go against her family's wishes.
She said she felt brainwashed and had damaged her parents.
Her parents put her on sedatives and never discussed her baby with her. They brought her to a solicitor where she signed adoption papers.
'Resident C' said she was too sedated to fight for her child.
She said her parents never acknowledged the child as their grandson: only adoption was considered.
'Resident C' said the legalities of adoption were never explained to her, and she doesn't feel she gave her voluntary consent to have her child adopted.
She said her parents took control of her and never allowed her to express her feelings. The adoption went ahead, without her having a say in the process.
