Cork woman's quest to move her mother's remains from a Magdalene mass burial site

By James Ward
Irish Mirror
January 28, 2017

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/cork-womans-quest-move-mothers-9708844

Industrial school survivor, Mary Collins pictured paying her respects to mother Angela, buried in a mass grave at St Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork city. Photo by Daragh Mc Sweeney

Industrial school survivor, Mary Collins pictured with former Magdalen laundry resident Eileen Winston at St Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork city. Photo by Daragh Mc Sweeney

For years Mary Collins has campaigned fruitlessly to have her mum Angela removed from a mass burial site where she lies beside 72 other Magdalene women.

Traveller Angela was “snatched from the side of the road” when her daughter was just two years old, and spent the following 27 years in hellhole St Vincent’s home in Cork, where she stayed until her death.

Mary wants a Commission of Investigation to be set up to provide answers to the children of the Magdalene women but says she has been ignored by the Department of Justice and the nuns from St Vincent’s.

She held a graveside memorial service for her Angela and the other forgotten women.

She told the Irish Mirror: “I don’t want to be here. I’m angry. I feel angry about this grave. I have to come back but I don’t want to be here. I don’t know how to feel.

“The last time I was here was years ago, before all the stories about the abuse in the laundries had come out.

“I’m still trying to get justice, I’m still trying to get my mum buried in a private plot but no one wants to listen. I would like to see a Commission set up to help the children of Magdalene women, who have to visit these laundries, who want to know what happened to their mothers.

“I didn’t know my mum had suffered so much, I only heard that since all of these abuse stories started coming out.

"Cork City Council confirmed she was in a mass grave but they need permission from the people who own the grave.

“But they will not speak to me. I’ve tried calling, I’ve gone to their building.

“I’ve come up here because I think the anger has given me no other option to deal with it.” After her mum was taken to the laundry, Mary was sent to an industrial school, the Sacred Heart in Cobh, where she was badly abused.

On visits to the laundry to see her mother she claims she was punched and kicked under tables.

She said: “I wrote to the Justice Minister asking why the Gardai have not responded to my complaint about the women who abused me. I haven’t had a response.”

Mary, who suffered post-traumatic stress as a result of her horrific experiences, was excluded from the commission of inquiry into the Magdalene laundries.

She believes the children of the women who endured such terrible experience in the institutions are deserving of a State apology.

She added: “Nobody is accepting any responsibility.

“I think it’s absolutely shocking in this day and age that I have to plead for justice like this.”