Independent TD for Galway West, Catherine Connolly spoke to Claire Byrne about the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. Deputy Connolly is unhappy with the report’s conclusion that there was no evidence that church or state authorities forced women into the Mother and Baby Homes without their consent. Catherine Connolly says that this finding is inconsistent with the testimonies of survivors published in the report.

Before touching on the report itself, Catherine Connolly expressed her disgust at the timeline and method of its release. She says neither a hard copy nor online access were available to the survivors at the time of the webinar last Tuesday; while the government had the report since October:

"It's really important to capture the message that was given here: That the survivors would be treated with respect, treated with equality. And instead of that, they got a webinar with no report in their hand. They got the report yesterday. They were left struggling with the internet, on Tuesday after the webinar, to access a 3,000 page report." 

Catherine Connolly told Claire she believes that the events described by survivors in the report arose from a fundamental power disparity in Irish society:

"It was the powerful against the powerless. That's exactly what it was." 

Deputy Connolly believes the Commission is wrong to conclude that women were not forced by church or state into Mother and Baby Homes. She says there is plenty of evidence in the report pointing towards coercion. Using Tuam as an example, she says that the County Council owned the Tuam institution and that the council held meetings there. They held meetings, she says, in a building where mothers, babies and pregnant women were living in "appalling" conditions. Deputy Connolly says that local council officials in Tuam made decisions on the fate of individual women and their children:

"The manager of the time decided if a mother had a second baby, that it was into the Magdalen that mother would go, and not into the Mother and Baby homes. It jumps off the pages that these institutions were for reform, to reform the women who had sinned and if they sinned more than once, God help them. The words 'repentance' and 'reform' are used, and yet, the Commission finds that there was no evidence that they were forced into institutions." 

Catherine Connolly says it is clear from testimonies in the report that the women were powerless to decide their own fate.  A string of powerful figures made decisions for them, often without their knowledge or consent. Deputy Connolly told Claire that a narrative about the Mother and Baby Homes which ignores this power imbalance goes against the evidence.

Deputy Connolly said there has been an attempt to spread responsibility widely across Irish society, without calling out the role of those who wielded power. These include, she says, local council officials, politicians, clergy, lawyers and doctors: 

"The priest figures strongly in a lot of the stories told. The doctor figures strongly. On occasions, the solicitor. And if a woman went, not IF a woman, there are stories where a woman went to a GP and the GP phoned the priest." 

Accountability for the suffering of women and children in Mother and Baby Homes cannot be spread so widely as to become meaningless, Catherine Connolly says:

"The narrative that we were all responsible: it was spraying water. Now, spraying water can be good, but a spray is not good when you're talking about responsibility. Spray it amongst all of us, nobody is responsible." 

In explaining her frustration with the flaws she sees in the report’s conclusions, Deputy Connolly refers back to a speech made in the Dáil on the same issue by then Taoiseach Enda Kenny in 2017: 

"And he said, 'No nuns or priests came in the middle of the night to take our children.' Now that is the commentary again in the conclusions here, despite the evidence, despite the Commission setting out some of the evidence themselves. The narrative is still the same that nobody came to take our children. Yes they did." 

Connolly says the women and children who survived Mother and Baby Homes deserve to have their experiences publicly acknowledged:

"What do I want done? I want a recognition of the suffering that women, boys and girls endured, number one." 

Deputy Connolly's parting thoughts returned to where the conversation began: with her dismay at the way the roll-out of the report was conducted:

"A leak should have never happened. The survivors should have been given the report before any of us, they should have had time to reflect."

You can listen back to the full conversation between Catherine Connolly, TD and Claire Byrne here.

The National Counselling Service has been asked to provide counselling to former residents through its counselling locations.

For information on available supports and information on how to access the HSE live team, call 1800 817 517, Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 5pm.

Ruth Kennedy