IRELAND
Irish Times
Carl O’Brien
Tue, Jun 10, 2014
Until recent decades, the landscape was dotted with institutions where unmarried women were consigned to give birth in conditions of shame, secrecy and hardship.
But even though we feel we know all about this dark chapter of Ireland’s social history, we have few details on the precise nature of women’s and children’s experiences inside these homes, or the power structures used by society to confine them.
There have been four statutory reports into the abuses of children, and a Government inquiry into the Magdalene laundries, but no investigation into mother and baby homes.
We have some fragments, courtesy of valuable work by historians, journalists and the memoirs of those consigned to these institutions.
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