2/2 Previously, alongside academic colleagues, with @maeveorourke.bsky.social as lead author, we made a submission supporting the appeal by Bessboro Mother and Baby Home Support Group against the grant of planning permission.
The submission can be downloaded at: clannproject.org/planning/
A photo of the small graveyard at Bessboro
1/2 Today, Clann submitted a collation of 156 observations from survivors and affected people to An Coimisiún Pleanála, objecting to the proposed development at the site of the former Mother and Baby Institution at Bessborough.
For further information, please visit: clannproject.org/planning/
5) See the following page for further information on the Magdalene Names Project and its ethical protocols:
jfmresearch.com/home/magdale...
4) However, this remains slow, meticulous work that demands a strict ethical approach.
In line with our established protocols, JFMR will not be publishing the names of women identified through the 1926 Census.
3) I expect the 1926 data to be equally vital in our ongoing efforts to honour these women & in challenging the State’s contention that durations of confinement were minimal.
2) The digitisation of the 1901/11 censuses was transformative for this work, providing compelling evidence of the decades many women spent behind convent walls.
1) Ethics and the 1926 Census
The release of the 1926 Census this weekend marks a significant moment for historical research in Ireland. Over the past two decades, I have used publicly available records to identify women who lived & died within the Magdalene Laundries.
2/2 Furthermore, the Department has flagged that affected people will be able to feed into the wider statutory review of the Act. We have been calling for this since before the legislation was enacted and the move is very much welcome.
Birth information and tracing logo
1/2 The Dept of Children, Disability & Equality has launched a public consultation on changes to the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 relating to illegal birth registrations. The survey is open to all so please get involved if it's of relevance to you: www.gov.ie/en/departmen...
10) For further details on the work of the MNP see: jfmresearch.com/home/magdale...
Chapter 8 of: jfmresearch.com/books/irelan...
Chapter 11 of: jfmresearch.com/books/dublin...
9) In the case of the Good Shepherd Magdalene Laundry in Limerick, an average of 60.4% of the women listed in the electoral registers between 1961 and 1983 died while still confined there. The MNP is currently undertaking a detailed review of the remaining available electoral registers.
8) The MNP has undertaken similar comparative work using electoral registers for the Magdalene Laundries at High Park, Donnybrook (1954–1964) and Limerick (1961–1983). These show that more than half the women recorded at High Park and Donnybrook remained in the institutions until they died.
7) A comparative analysis of the names of women recorded in the 1901 and 1911 censuses and those appearing on headstones at Magdalene burial sites indicates that many women experienced prolonged periods of confinement in the laundries, ranging from 11 to 74 years.
6) MNP sources include gravestones, digitised census records, electoral registers, graveyard registers, death certificates, inquest files, exhumation records, and newspaper archives.
5) Unlike the McAleese Committee, which relied on the (often flawed) records of the religious orders, the MNP draws on a wide range of sources to establish the identities and whereabouts of women who died while confined behind convent walls.
4) Likewise, with regard to duration of stay, the findings of the Magdalene Names Project (MNP) directly contradict the McAleese Report’s claims that confinement in the laundries was generally of relatively short duration.
3) Moreover, the women’s own testimonies make clear that such assertions are untenable.
See the McAleese Report itself: www.gov.ie/en/departmen...
And read the testimonies of women gathered by the Magdalene Oral History Project: jfmresearch.com/home/oralhis...
2) On the question of the alleged absence of abuse, it is difficult to see how the confinement of women against their will and their being compelled to work without pay could be understood as anything other than a form of abuse.
A graveyard with rows of black crosses. There are also larger statues and stone crosses throughout.
1) It has come to my attention that David Quinn, writing in a Catholic publication and relying on the McAleese Report’s flawed findings, has made inaccurate claims regarding both the extent of abuse and the length of confinement experienced by women in the Magdalene Laundries.
2/2 Please also contact your local politicians and Cork City Councillors and ask them to intervene: www.contactyourtd.ie www.corkcity.ie/en/council-s...
Poster with details of Bessboro Vigil, Sunday 8th March at 1pm The text reads as follows: The Bessboro Mother & Baby 'home' Support Group are protesting against the development of 140 apartments at Bessborough which has been granted permission by Cork City Council Planning. If this development goes ahead, it will set a precedent and is likely to lead to further larger developments in the grounds of Bessborough getting planning permission also, which will change the landscape of the whole area. 923 children born in Bessboro died and the burial places of 859 of them are not recorded, but the majority are likely to be buried on the grounds The remaining undeveloped 60 acres of the Bessborough estate should be preserved as a National Site of Conscience to remember and honour all those that died, as well as the 18,706 women and children that were incarcerated here. They were forgotten for so long! In addition to being a place of remembrance, the 60 acre site would be an invaluable amenity for the local community. We will be appealing the planning decision.
1/2 Please support @carmelcantwell.bsky.social and the Bessboro Support Group, at their vigil on 8th March at 1pm in protest at the Cork City Council decision to grant planning permission for development of the Bessboro site.
A damning indictment of the scheme from the Special Advocate @patriciac.bsky.social
Concern over 'poor take up' of Mother and Baby scheme www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
10) The above observations are based on an initial read of the report.
Much more can & should be said about this deeply discriminatory scheme, some of which is set out in this Clann submission: clannproject.org/wp-content/u...
9) The figures/info cited (& not cited) in the report demonstrate how discriminatory the scheme is, how opaque its processes are, how poorly it serves people affected by forced family separation & institutionalisation & how disempowered they feel to fight back against this situation.
Screenshot of page showing data breaches
8) 13 data breaches occurred during the period covered, involving 'incorrect' info/docs uploaded/posted & one email was sent to an incorrect recipient.
'Appropriate actions were taken to mitigate against future risks' but no detail on how it happened in the first place or what actions were taken.
Screenshot of complaints page
In the period from 20th March 2024 to 31st December 2024, the Payment Scheme received one Subject Access Request (SAR) and five Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.
7) 32 complaints were received in the period of time covered by the annual report. This shouldn't be interpreted as an indicator of satisfaction with the scheme. Rather, it speaks to a deep lack of empowerment amongst affected people, further evidenced by the v low number of FOIs (5) & SARs (1).
6) 🚨The reasons for requesting reviews & appeals aren't provided in the annual report (nor are they provided to affected people).
We've obtained (some of) these via PQ (h/t @ciaranahern.bsky.social): www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/q....
Why is this information not available as a matter of course?
Screenshot of number of appeals
5) The low number of appeals is deeply shocking. Just nine (!) people have requested an appeal & only two of these individuals have had a change to the outcome.
NB:
❌ An appeal can only be requested if a review has been done
❌ A review can only be carried out in a limited number of cases
Screenshot of reviews and appeals page
4) The number of requests for review is also low (433) & the outcome of these requests is not at all clear. I believe that 'NoD [notice of determination] issued' means there has been a change in the original decision, in which case just 76 people (17.6%) have had a successful outcome.
