No Evidence Babies Were Dumped in Grave

By Paddy Murray
Sunday World
June 19, 2014

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/columnists/paddy-murray/no-evidence-babies-were-dumped-in-grave

Discovery of grave in Tuam

And do you know why it’s hard to believe? Because it’s not true. It’s made up. It’s fantasy.

Of course, there is going to be an inquiry and there probably should be.

And it should ask not just what role the nuns or others running mother and baby homes had in the dire conditions, but what role the State had and, indeed, what role was played by the families which clearly abandoned these young, pregnant and very often abused girls.

But if there is going to be an inquiry perhaps it should not start with utter gibberish dreamed up by English newspapers.

Right now, there is not a single shred of evidence that 769 babies were ‘dumped’ in a septic tank in Tuam.

Indeed, a respected historian pointed out this week that, whatever about the behaviour of the nuns, it was all but certain they didn’t “dump babies in septic tanks”.

Finbar McCormick, a professor of geography at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “The structure as described is much more likely to be a shaft burial vault, a common method of burial used in the recent past and still used today in many parts of Europe.”

And bear this in mind. The death and cause of death of every single one of the children who died in Tuam was meticulously recorded by the nuns.

Whatever other faults they may have had, being secretive about the deaths or hiding them wasn’t one.

The fact of the matter is that it was ‘society’ which insisted the girls be hidden away with the fathers implicitly exonerated.

So let’s find out exactly what happened in Tuam.

And then please can we stop beating ourselves up over what was undoubtedly appalling behaviour in our past before some band-wagoning politician calls for a judicial inquiry into the Famine.

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Hi-tech low point for jobs

I pulled in for petrol the other day. And I noticed that where once a small staff made sandwiches and coffee, there are now fridges for snacks and coffee machines.

Food is fine. Coffee is grand. Only thing missing, is people.

I’m old enough to remember when you pulled into a petrol station and an attendant would fill your tank for you. Now? Do it yourself. Jobs are vanishing.

You order your weekly shop from home and have it delivered. You call a taxi by app. You book your holiday online. You do all your banking online. You buy music, books and, hopefully, some news online. You pay your taxes online. You pay your car insurance and TV licence online.

And while it’s true to say that shelves have to be stacked or vans driven and call centres staffed, every day we are doing things for ourselves which, not too long ago, were jobs for other people.

Dammit, they’re even talking about paying the dole electronically, which will, no doubt, cost jobs. How ironic is that?