"Lock up" Nuns Says Survivor of Castlepollard Mother and Baby Home

Westmeath Examiner
March 9, 2017

http://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/news/roundup/articles/2017/03/09/4136366-lock-up-nuns-says-survivor-of-castlepollard-mother-and-baby-home/

The nuns who ran the mother and baby home in Castlepollard should be “locked up” for their role in the systemic mistreatment of thousands of women and their children, a former resident has said.

In an interview with the Westmeath Examiner yesterday, Paul Redmond, who was born at the mother and baby home in Castlepollard and is the chairperson of the Coalition of the Mother and Baby Home Survivors, said that although he knows that it won't happen, he would “love” to see the nuns who ran the mother and baby homes imprisoned for the remainder of their years.

“I would love to see the guards kick in the doors of the convents and see them brought out in their wheelchairs in chains,” he said.

“I was one of three or four people who went to the gardai about the high mortality rates in the homes, but there is nothing the gardai can do

“No matter how high the mortality rates and the rate of neglect, you essentially need a witness to the wilful act of murder. Unfortunately I doubt that any such person exists. You can't go after an order of nuns, just individual nuns.”

“I would lock the whole lot of them up, but it appears that the only chance of justice is in the next life.”

According to research conducted by activists, it is estimated that the remains of over 300 babies, including the remains of around 100 stillbirths, are buried at the Little Angels plot at the mother and baby home in Castlepollard, which was operational between 1935 and 1971.

There were 3,673 births registered at the home, which was run by nuns from the Sacred Heart order.

Recent research has also revealed that per capita, Castlepollard had the highest number of overseas adoption of any of the mother and baby homes, a practice that Mr Redmond says was lucrative for the religious orders concerned.

“Technically there weren't payments. This was done under the guise of donations – Irish people are familiar with brown envelopes and political donations.

"This was a euphemism for bribery and back in the day religious donations were a euphemism for buying a baby. The Sacred Heart nuns [who ran the mother and baby home in Castlepollard] made a fortune out of it.

“Mike Milotte, who wrote the book Banished Babies, worked out that the religious orders earned between ˆ30 and ˆ50m in today's money. Castlepollard sent about one in 10 of the total number of children, so it was worth between three and five million euro.”

Mr Redmond says that he was not surprised by the confirmation that the remains of 800 babies are buried at the mother and baby home in Tuam, which he describes as “only the tip of the iceberg”.

He also said that many activists feel that the current commission investigating the mother and baby homes should focus on securing justice for the survivors of the regime who are still alive, including the hundreds of people born in Castlepollard, many of who meet up every summer in the town.

He would also like to see the mother and baby home in the town, which he says was the only custom-built one of all the homes, to be preserved as both a museum and a memorial to the thousands of women and children who went through the system across the country.

“A lot of people believe that the living survivors are more important than an historical investigation. No matter how gruesome the result, nothing can be done to help the poor angels across the country.

“Our community is elderly and dying. Survivors are dying and not seeing any justice,” he said.