IRELAND
Irish Examiner
Saturday, January 10, 2015
by Susan Lohan
Children’s Minister James Reilly yesterday published the terms of reference for an inquiry called on for many years to no avail.
Matters began to come to a head initially as a result of the Oscar-nominated film Philomena, which chronicled the experiences of a young Philomena Lee and her son Anthony at the Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home in Tipperary.
The film showed how Philomena and her son were effectively imprisoned for three-and-a-half years before Anthony was trafficked to the US for adoption to a well-off family.
Forty years later, the Sacred Heart Adoption Society, which brokered his “adoption”, deliberately prevented the now high-profile but dying legal expert from reuniting with his mother.
Philomena finally discovered his memorial plaque at the Sean Ross site after a chance viewing of photos of the few private graves allowed there (a privilege paid for in hard cash by Anthony and his surviving partner).
The Government seemed determined to brazen out the relentless storm of similar witness testimony from other mother and baby homes, State maternity hospitals, and private nursing homes.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.