Life in the missions: ‘We didn't have time to think about fear or trauma; we were too busy trying to save lives'
In the 1960s, there were as many Irish men and women working overseas on the missions as there were members of the gardaí and the Irish Defence Forces.
But according to the Association of Missionaries and Religious of Ireland (AMRI), in 2022 there were just 626 Irish Catholic missionaries active outside Ireland. Within the next 10 years that number is expected to drop to about 200.
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Sunday World
2 hours ago
- Sunday World
Major excavation of unmarked grave of babies and young children under way
The excavation of the site of St Mary's mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, will try to identify the remains of infants who died at the home between 1925 and 1961. Archaeologists and other specialists have started working at the site as part of its attempt to exhume and identify human remains. In 2014, research led by local historian Catherine Corless indicated that 796 babies and young children were buried in a sewage system at the Co Galway institution across that time period. St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns. In 2021, Taoiseach Micheal Martin apologised on behalf of the state for the treatment of women and children who were housed in mother and baby homes across Ireland. The Bon Secours Sisters also offered a 'profound apology' after acknowledging the order had 'failed to protect the inherent dignity' of women and children in the Tuam home. The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam (ODAIT), which is undertaking the work, confirmed that ground was broken at 10.38am on Monday. The process, which started on Monday, is expected to last two years. The work at the burial site will involve exhumation, analysis, identification if possible and re-interment of the remains at the site. The site, surrounded by a 2.4 metre-high hoarding, is security monitored on a 24-hour basis to ensure the forensic integrity of the site during the excavation. Daniel MacSweeney, who leads the ODAIT, said: 'These measures are necessary to ensure the site's forensic integrity and to enable us to carry out the works to the highest international standards that govern the excavation and recovery programme.' A visit for families and survivors to view the site ahead of the commencement of the full excavation took place last Tuesday. Dr Niamh McCullagh, ODAIT's senior forensic consultant, is leading the forensic excavation alongside other Irish specialists and international experts from Colombia, Spain, UK, Canada, Australia and the US. ODAIT's multidisciplinary forensic approach to the complex challenge of the excavation is grounded in the expertise of forensic archaeologists, osteoarchaeologists, forensic anthropologists together with experts in crime scene management including evidence management and forensic photography. Anna Corrigan, who discovered that she had two older brothers who were born while her mother was a resident at the Tuam home, said Monday was a welcome but difficult day. Ms Corrigan has instructed KRW Law to launch High Court civil proceedings against a number of agencies and institutions including the Order of The Sisters of Bon Secours over the circumstances surrounding the death and disappearance of her brothers. 'Whilst it's a relief to see work started on the site it's really only the latest stage in what is still a long road for all of us,' she said. 'I accept there are technical issues arising from the exhumation which may impact on decision-making by the attorney general, the coroner in Galway and the gardai and others, but the least we can expect now is expressions of support plus a commitment to reviewing all previous decision-making. 'I won't rest until I see justice for my two brothers who not only need a proper Christian burial but also the full rigours of the law both domestic and international applied. 'What happened at Tuam was criminal, so there needs to be both church and state accountability. The Government can't just do a Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of this and blame the nuns and the Catholic Church. 'They have a complicity in all of this as well. Any solutions which exclude the state won't be tolerated by me or anyone else. 'We've fought far too hard to get to here and we certainly don't want to see this important excavation work carried out in vain. 'There are so many people I want to thank, including Jim McVeigh from Belfast and our lawyers, including KRW Law led by Chris Stanley, together with Carl Buckley of Guernica Chambers, whose guidance and direction has helped to chart a path through many of the legal complexities. 'We have much more work to be done before we can feel anywhere near satisfied.' Speaking on the opening day of excavations, Irish human rights lawyer Kevin Winters said: 'Annie (Anna) Corrigan, like so many others, has waited a long time for this moment. It's intensely emotional for her but also frustrating given the gnawing sense of unfinished business. 'She welcomes the excavation work, which is likely to take anything up to two years to complete, and sees today as an opportunity to again call upon the Irish Government to engage on unresolved legal issues connected to the recovery process. 'Over 18 months ago we wrote to gardai, including local gardai, at Tuam urging them to treat the scandal as a criminal investigation. 'Despite repeated requests from both Annie and ourselves they failed to assign gardai Pulse investigation numbers until last month when she received confirmation they would issue. 'We have written to gardai in Galway urging the immediate release of the numbers. The industrial volumes of buried infants and the manner in which they met their fate clearly points to criminality. 'It will be momentous to see the assignment of Pulse record numbers as that crystallises formal criminal investigation status upon this historical human rights debacle. 'Equally important is the requirement that the coroner in Galway upscales intervention after opening up the case as far back as 2017. 'There needs to be an inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Annie's siblings and all the other unexplained deaths. 'We are also instructed by Annie to launch High Court civil proceedings against a number of agencies and institutions including the Order of The Sisters of Bon Secours over the circumstances surrounding the death and disappearance of Annie's brothers. 'There was a suffocating toxicity about the historic Irish state-Catholic Church relationship which helped foment the horrors of Tuam. 'However this almost mediaeval barbarity occurred within living memory. 'Tuam is in danger of becoming a byword for cruelty unless both state agencies and the church respond promptly and transparently to the latest legal agitation touching upon criminal investigation; inquests and compensation.'
RTÉ News
4 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Start of excavation work 'momentous', says Tuam relative
The daughter of a woman whose child died in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home has described as "absolutely momentous" the beginning of excavation work at the site in Co Galway. Annette McKay's mother Maggie O'Connor was sent to an industrial school when her mother died in 1936. While there, she became pregnant after she was raped by a caretaker when she was 17. She was then moved to Tuam Mother and Baby Home. Ms O'Connor was separated from her child after the birth and was moved to St Anne's in Loughrea. It was there where she was told that her baby, Mary Margaret, had died in Tuam. Ms McKay spoke to RTÉ's News at One programme about her mother's experiences and the subsequent investigations and inquiries into the deaths at the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. "Even a thimble full of Mary Margaret, to place that baby with her mum, would mean everything," Ms McKay said. She explained that her mother did not speak about her experiences in the home until she was 70. "It was the birth of my first grandchild that upset her very much, which was not the case for my mum loved babies and it brought out this harrowing tale about her baby; her bonnie baby, Mary Margaret," she said. "It was just unreal, how could we have lived all our lives, and she get to be 70 and we didn't know about this terrible, terrible thing that had happened to her?" Ms McKay said that her mother had been moved from Tuam to St Anne's in Loughrea, and she had been told that it was the women who the nuns regarded as "troublesome" or "wanting to spend too much time with their babies" who were moved from Tuam. "There was no bonding with that child to be allowed," she explained. "So mum was pegging washing out in Loughrea, and the nun came behind her and just said 'the child of your sin is dead' and they threw her out the same day - that's all she ever knew about that baby." She said that her mother was traumatised by her experiences in the Mother and Baby Home. "I always tell people the nuns lived in our home because the nuns were always present - all the trauma, all the damage, all the pain, all the stories. "I can recall now, the names of the sisters who abused my mother, so for her to keep that secret for 50 years, was a tremendous stigma and shame visited on those women." After leaving the home, Ms O'Connor moved to Belfast, where she met Ms McKay's father. "She had my older brother in Belfast, but (the father) deserted her... she wrote to her sister in Bury and her brother-in-law came to rescue Maggie and my older brother. "My father reappeared again, then there were two more children, and then he deserted her for good. "So, Bury is where she remained and always described living in our town as a sanctuary." Ms McKay said that her mother had always referred to English people as "very welcoming" and had helped her though "traumatic episodes". "They had no idea about how deep the trauma was and how terrible the experience she's lived through." In 2015, the Government set up an investigation into 14 Mother and Baby homes and four county homes, which found "significant quantities" of human remains on the Tuam site. The inquiry found an "appalling level of infant mortality" in the institutions and said that no alarm was raised by the state over them, even though it was "known to local and national authorities". The State inquiry led to a formal government apology in 2021, the announcement of a redress scheme and an apology from the Sisters of Bon Secours. Ms McKay said that her mother had not been very interested in the redress scheme and had asked her daughter to deal with the proceedings. "A solicitor came and said she would take the case on and suddenly all this paperwork appeared - the baby's death certificate, the birth certificate and this place called Tuam. "Years later, in a story in an English newspaper: 'A terrible discovery in the West of Ireland of a grave containing a septic tank containing the bodies of 796 children'. "I knew she was on that list. And she was." A team of Irish and international forensic experts have today broken ground at the site of the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. The excavation will take two years and will try to identify the remains of the infants who died between 1925 and 1961, more than 11 years after Catherine Corless first drew attention to the burial site. Ms McKay described as "absolutely momentous" the beginning of the work at the site today. "We were there last week, and the team gave us a chance to see what the site looks like now. It's forensically sealed and they were preparing to work. "I describe that journey as a chance to say goodbye for now." Ms McKay said that the day also feels "very hard and emotional". "I've had my DNA taken because I'm in the group described as old and vulnerable," she said. "Because I'm on the advisory board, I do have this bird's eye view of the discussions around DNA techniques, what's possible, what's not possible, the ages of the babies. "The way they've been lying in the water table, commingled remains; it is technically very, very difficult, but I have to have hope. "Even a thimble full of Mary Margaret, to place that baby with her mum, would mean everything."
The Irish Sun
5 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Major rescue operation launched after two people, 20s, blown out to sea on dinghy off Donegal coast
TWO young people were rescued off Co Donegal after being swept out to sea in a dinghy. The frightening incident happened at Pollan Bay yesterday afternoon. 1 A major rescue operation occurred when two young people were swept out to sea Credit: Getty Images - Getty The pair, both in their twenties, had been caught by an offshore wind and dramatically swept out to sea. The alarm was raised shortly before 4pm on Sunday, when Malin Head Coast Guard tasked Lough Swilly Rescue 118, the The swift response of the Lough Swilly RNLI crews was crucial. READ MORE ON RNLI Joe Joyce of Lough Swilly RNLI said: "There was an off-shore wind blowing, today's outcome could have been so different". Both the all- The casualties were successfully located and taken aboard the Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat and then brought safely ashore. An ambulance and members of Most read in Irish News Joe Joyce of Lough Swilly RNLI paid tribute to the volunteer crew. He said: "There was a lot going on in Buncrana with the Urgent warning for Irish parents as RNLI issues major water safety advice ahead of school holidays The volunteer crew did well launching both boats so quickly." Earlier this year, a The Howth crew set off after receiving an alert at 9.49am following a request for assistance from a lone sailor, who was drifting rapidly offshore due to strong winds and "challenging sea state". The inshore lifeboat was quickly dispatched within 10 minutes with three crew on board. The crew made their way northeast of Howth to the position passed by the Within 10 minutes during the search, the crew had sight of the angling boat, which had drifted "a large distance from its last known position". Due to the worsening SAFE AND SOUND Once on the scene, the inshore lifeboat crew assessed the man on board, who was reported to be wearing a lifejacket and was unharmed. A decision was made to take the boat under tow immediately due to the speed of drift towards the shipping lanes, and they started to bring the vessel to shore safely. The all-weather lifeboat positioned itself ahead of the inshore lifeboat, absorbing the brunt of the heavy seas to make the tow safer and more manageable. The angling boat was successfully towed back to After the successful rescue, the lone sailor was praised for making the right call once he realised he was in trouble.
