MARY HARNEY was born in the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork in 1949.
All because she was born to a single mother in a country and a time when this was deemed to be one of the worst things a person could do. “When we were assigned to work on these chores, one of the things we had to do was to slit open the horsehair mattress and take all the stuffing out of it. And we were in a room where there were no windows.
“It was a cold night,” she told us, “I was there for the whole night. And then I had to go to school the next morning without any sleep. My feet, I could barely move my legs, they were so blue with the cold. And those were the kinds of punishments, the beatings and the banging. “I had been charged with getting her up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, and the nun deemed that I hadn’t done my duty because she still wet the bed and therefore I was responsible.Mary said beatings from certain nuns were a “regular” occurrence.
“I think I was 11 or 12, whenever I did my Confirmation. They would say things like ‘Nobody wants you, not even your mother’. And then I was told, ‘Well, your mother is dead’. A priest from the Sacred Heart Mission in Cork contacted the nuns in Bessborough on Mary’s behalf, and they told him the truth.
Their first meeting was “awkward” but they became close over time and Mary moved in with her mother and her husband and other children for a while. “It’s difficult for people like us to show affection and, you know, the bond was broken. It was gone, it was long gone, it couldn’t be put back.”“Over the 31 years we knew each other, she was my heroine, I had so much respect and love for her. But it was as if she was someone else’s mother, it’s difficult to describe to people who’ve grown up with mothers.”
Mary said sealing the files for 30 years will “put them beyond the reach of many people and people who may not be around in 30 years time to look at the records”. Many other countries such as Germany, Canada, Australia and Serbia have dealt with similar situations and allowed citizens to access personal records, she noted.
The shattering of childhood innocence is/was/and forever will be devastating to victims/witnesses. Perhaps the best way to atone for the sins of the past is to pay it forward into the future for them and theirs.
orlaryan This isn't anything new...the government have been sweeping horrific 'secrets' under the carpet for decades! And let it be known that this past that they try to hide has many negative repercussions on this 'new' Ireland. Survivors and generations left to suffer on their own!
What's even more insulting to the victims is the ink on the Ryan Report is still wet.
Just a effing disgrace. Nothing has changed over the centuries. These poor children, they’d the life of horrors. The government is protecting the Catholic Church because of the money they’d end up owing .
For once let's do the right thing and put a stop to the continuing abuse
blackcoffeecup Another 30 years of no accountability thanks to rodericogorman and his green party colleagues FNDuffy cathmartingreen Costellop joefingalgreen. Many councillors retweeted roderic waffling yesterday too hazechu sendboyle RoisinGarvey. Horrible party. You buried the greens