Iām not sure why youāre tagging me on this.
From what Iāve read/heard the Mother and Baby Homes are one of the darkest parts of recent Irish history and the government of the time clearly acted disgracefully along with the church. It shows how far Ireland has come in a short space of time that this was going on in the not too distant past
I think 2 did ā¦ but it was a belter of a put down. What you seldom hear about with the famine is how many landlords ruined themselves trying to help their tenants. Thatās a narrative that wasnt welcome for a long time as the big house was seen as other to us and the a seat of English rule. Many were bastards as well but many a good landlord lost a fortuneā¦ More than the church anyway.
True. Of course the British Administration put a stop to landlords forgoing tenants rents by making the landlords liable in the event of non pay. I think there were many that still tried to help until they couldnāt anymore and went bankrupt.
I never heard that before
Iād say the horrors of that time are unimaginable ā¦I went to the Famine exhibition in Skibbereen a couple of years back and it was very moving. Fagan is correct when he says the Famine is still in our DNA - suffering is something passed on. As an Island itās something we havent tried to tackle or make peace with yetā¦ I hope we do in a meaningful way but people are too busy living to be putting themselves out about the past I suppose.
It happened a relatively short time ago too.
Thereās a decent chance a good few of us are only here because of cannibalism
Thereās no one here from Roscommon is there?
While weāre on it - @backinatracksuit I listened to Declan OāRourkeās Poor Boyās Shoes last week and I nearly had a mental breakdown.
I would have thought De Valeras tacit acquiesence of the churchs role within the state had a much more immediate and direct effect then O Connel or the famine
Yes - but it didnt just happen over nightā¦ How does a whole country become implicit in turning a blind eye? The foundations were laid in the 19th centuryā¦ where the church were seen as our voice. In Devās Ireland they were our masters.
Itās a heartbreaking and utterly haunting song, when lads are feeling sorry for themselves that they canāt go for a pint or to a match in Thurles they should listen to what theyāre great x4 granda had to put up with (except for @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy whoās granda had 5000 acres or cornfields)
First God took the little boy Then he took the little girl
Soon there little souls were free from all the sadness in the world
There father lifted up his love for she could no longer walk alone
From the poor house on the hill he took her on the long walk home
There he felt the cold apon her as he laid her down to rest
And so he knelt down but her bed and drew her feet up to his chest
There he tried to warm her cold feet through
And they found him there in poor boys shoesā¦
Textbook Glas! A clear indication of what you donāt think will work! Brilliant! Far be it from you to actually propose somethingā¦
Medical cards and counselling is an excellent starting point.
Iād also make sure they had social workers (many of these women are very old) and are suffering huge retraumatisation every time this comes up.
Free legal assistance with a dedicated team from DCYE because itās a minefield of impenetrable legality regarding birth certs/inheritance etc.
Personally, Iām in two minds about financial redress. Iād see this as different from the hepatitis or cervical cancer scandals where the state fucked up and was the malignant actor. And conditions in some of the homes were not bad in some senses(in comparison to the abject poverty and male dominated society of the time). The report details that most homes had no physical abuse.
On the other hand the state was paying these institutions to disappear a societal problem and had zero interest in changing the status quo.
I believe the government has in fact committed to financial redress all the same. I presume it;ll be an amount per years/months servedā¦
Lastly, Iād like to see illegal birth registrations/adoptions included in the assistance redress schemes. They are not covered by this report but are the flipside of the exact same societal coin in many ways.
Iām tagging you on this as you seem to go AWOL when FF are in the firing line.
Itās an odds with your virtuous, shrieking sanctimonious outrage on child abuse and people who facilitate this.
This is a great discussion. Some excellent contributions. TFK at its best.
Tacit? Didnāt he sit down with the bastards to write the constitution.
The idea for mother and baby homes was imported from the UK was it not? It was common practise in lots of countries. We kept it going long after the rest alright.
Salvation army started the first ones.
Sorry to interrupt your gleeful crowing there, but I said I believe the state owes survivors redress. Redress meaning money.
Counselling is a slap in the face and what good is a medical card when many of not most are outside the country.