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A monument to the Bethany children in Mount Jerome cemetery in south Dublin Derek Leinster

Bethany Home, where 222 children died, to be included in mother and baby home investigation

The Children’s Minister Charlie Flanagan said today that he was conscious of the grievances felt by those connected to the Bethany Home, a protestant-run home on Dublin’s Orwell Road.

Updated 9.40pm

THE CHILDREN’S MINISTER has said he is anxious that the Bethany Home in Rathgar is included as part of the Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes in Ireland.

Charlie Flanagan said today that he was conscious of the grievances felt by those connected to the Bethany Home, a protestant-run home on Dublin’s Orwell Road, where young unmarried mothers lived with their young children.

Many of the children were subsequently adopted, and survivors say they suffered neglect as children. Over 200 children died while in the care of Bethany Home. A monument to them was recently unveiled.

“I am conscious of grievance on the part of people who were directly associated with Behtany Homes and I am anxious that the scope of the inquiry would be beyond Tuam and County Galway. I would include all mother and baby homes with specific reference to the Bethany,” Flanagan said today.

The Taoiseach also confirmed that the Bethany Home would be included in the new probe.The former residents of the home were not including in the Government’ redress scheme for resident of the Magdalene Laundries, and a number of groups had been calling for the institution to be investigated.

Answering a question from Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams, the Taoiseach said:

It’s one of a significant number of mother-and-baby homes that must be investigated.

Flanagan was speaking at a press briefing after he earlier announced that Commission of Investigation would examine all practices, procedures and behaviours in mother and baby homes throughout the State in the wake of the recent Tuam babies scandal.

‘Before summer recess’

He said he hoped that the Commission would be established before the summer recess and would be informed by the current interdepartmental review being carried out across a number of government offices.

This is expected to report by the end of the month.

Flangan said he expects cooperation from all interested parties and he also acknowledged the role of Tuam historian Catherine Corless in highlighting the deaths of 796 babies at a home in the Galway town.

He said that getting widespread cooperation from all interested parties and organisations would ensure “that at last, for the first time, we will get to the truth of this very dark period in our history.

Flanagan said it would be “difficult to put detailed parameters on a time frame” for the commission to report but said he was “anxious” its work begin before the summer recess.

Flanagan said: “It is absolutely essential that that story be told difficult and traumatic as though that is, especially for the mothers and former babies many of whom are now adults.” 

He added: “No government has taken on this task but this government will not shirk its responsibility in discovering the truth, difficult and all as that might be.”

Flanagan said that any criminal investigation is “entirely a matter for An Garda Siochána” and said it was “far too early” to talk about the possibility of compensation for those affected.

Sinn Féin motion

In the Dáil this evening, Sinn Féin Health and Children spokesperson Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD called for any inquiry into mother and baby homes to cover all such homes and all aspects of the treatment of women and children, including high mortality rates and burial practices.

He proposed a motion from Sinn Féin on the issue this evening, saying the party did so “once it became clear that an inquiry was absolutely necessary”.

He said the latest revelations from Tuam “have highlighted more horrifying aspects of the regimes in these mother and baby homes and they demand immediate action to uncover the full truth”.

Also speaking in the Dáil, Minister Flanagan said that “insensitive language has been used in the rush to cast blame”, and he appealed to people within and outside Leinster House to be “sensitive in their choice of language” when referring to the homes.

He said that he wanted to acknowledge “the reality that Irish society as a whole colluded in maintaining the regime of mother and baby homes”.

“Questions remain unanswered about the nature of adoptions and vaccine trial,” he noted.

- Additional reporting Aoife Barry

Exclusive: Children died of malnutrition, syphilis, heart failure at mother and baby home

Read: Monument to 222 lost Bethany children to be unveiled at ceremony

 

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33 Comments
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    Mute Donal Costello
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    Jun 10th 2014, 4:09 PM

    Take assets off the Church and use the money to pay the victims and relatives

    Its the only thing the Church cares about. Money

    When I think of the power it had over Ireland in the past I feel ashamed to call myself Irish

    215
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    Mute Gaius Gracchus
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    Jun 10th 2014, 4:25 PM

    Just for clarification Bethany House was Church of Ireland

    137
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    Mute Donal Costello
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    Jun 10th 2014, 4:46 PM

    They’re all the same really.

    Money rules them all

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    Mute Hippocrateeth
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    Jun 10th 2014, 5:40 PM

    Money rules atheists too. It rules every person. Don’t be so naive.

    102
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    Mute John Fogarty
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    Jun 10th 2014, 6:40 PM
    16
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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Jun 10th 2014, 6:41 PM

    I googled castle pollard mother & baby home where my husband & I started our our lives & there are 500 babys buried there!! So looks like the 800 babys are just the tip of the iceberg….

    90
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    Mute myownboss
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:06 PM

    My mam had her son adopted to America from Castlepollard in1963 Colette, she had terrible life in there they changed her name and everything, her baby my half brother was “sold”‘to an American family, she never got over it.

    69
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    Mute Harry Price
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    Jun 11th 2014, 9:22 AM

    In Ireland the gas chambers was the septic tank how low can the group think go

    8
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    Mute Sargon
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    Jun 10th 2014, 4:19 PM

    So this is 2 sham investigations going on at once, the banks and the baby graves. Neither will result in arrests or meaningful changes. Jasus we are a useless lot

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    Mute Charles J. Ahern
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:13 PM

    I’d say many of the sisters from these homes are dead now …

    16
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    Mute Willy Moon
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    Jun 10th 2014, 5:14 PM

    If yet again the church or what ever religious order is found to be guilty of any part of these crimes all monies and assist should be frozen and given to the families and go towards the cost of the investigation, and then they should not be allowed to practice in ireland again, simple,

    54
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    Mute Exiled Lough Man
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    Jun 10th 2014, 8:16 PM

    Looks like the state and medical profession who initiated and oversaw the vaccine trials inside the homes and outside them will escape attention.

    According to Michael Dwyer of UCC 2000 trials took place inside various home while in the general population 40,000 children received the vaccine. Also the children who received the animal vaccine by mistake were all outside the homes yet the media fails to mention this.

    41
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    Mute Harry Price
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    Jun 11th 2014, 10:16 AM

    media is but state controlled by a gang think political arrangement

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    Mute Paddy Hannigan
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    Jun 10th 2014, 7:21 PM

    Will he now include the survivors of abuse at Bethany Hse access to the same compensation scheme that was allowed to those of Catholic homes.And will he make all religious orders either Catholic or Protestant pay for what they have done?

    39
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    Mute Paul Groome
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    Jun 10th 2014, 11:19 PM

    What can the people of Ireland do to ensure that this is dealt with properly? The government are putting together an ‘inquiry’ into what happened yet a series of horrible crimes have been committed. If I was found to own a septic tank full of dead bodies, Id be in Garda custody within an hour. Why aren’t the existing heads of these organisations being questioned?

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    Mute David Giles
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    Jun 11th 2014, 1:23 AM

    The Bethany Home was run by an independent trust composed of people from various denominations It was not run by the Church of Ireland. The trust no longer exists. The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin called on the Government to include the Bethany Home in any investigation.

    Any victims of the Bethany Home should be compensated in the same way as the victims of other homes.

    Any investigation should be swift, comprehensive, objective and willing to name the guilty and protect the innocent.

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    Mute Moira Connolly
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:46 PM

    It will be interesting to see if this investigation talks to all the people responsible, not just a few very aged nuns. Are familys prepared for their grandmothers to be called as witnesses and asked to give evidence on why the put their daughters in these institutions, will they give evidence on the adoption of babies that no one in their households know existed.

    I know a number of people who were adopted and some discovered that their parents were married when they were born, they just couldn’t or wouldn’t feed another child.

    All the many reasons girls were put into these homes are not as cut and dried as the nuns made them, far from it, it is going to open a can of worms alot of families thought was in their past. And if it dosn’t it is not worth while, the people of Ireland hope it is going to show that all this was done secretly and without the blessing of the general population. It was done openly with the consent of these girls families, and it is going to bring alot of ghosts out of closets. There are very few families that will not be touched by this.

    34
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    Mute Hippocrateeth
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    Jun 10th 2014, 4:10 PM

    How about the island of Ireland,where countless millions of babies died over the centuries, be added to the investigation?

    Only seems right.

    33
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    Mute John Michael
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    Jun 10th 2014, 4:35 PM

    That’s what the law courts are for. The religious orders were exempt from these but why shouldn’t they be held accountable for crimes like everyone else. It seems a lot of people don’t want answers here. I wonder why?

    38
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    Mute Daisy Chainsaw
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    Jun 10th 2014, 4:57 PM

    Do you know of any who were starved, neglected and put in unmarked bits of land? Then bring it to the attention of thos investigating

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    Mute Hippocrateeth
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    Jun 10th 2014, 5:53 PM

    Daisy chainsaw: starved? Yes, I would say the vast vast majority of the babies and children who died in Ireland over the past centuries would have died directly as a result of starvation and poor nutrition causing infirmity.

    Neglected: I presume you mean neglected in terms of physical necessities, not emotional support , in which case exactly the same as above. When money is scarce, food is scarce, heating is scarce, clothing is scarce, disease is rife, neglect is not a CHOICE of any carer, parent or otherwise, it is a sad result of the poverty.

    Placed in unmarked bits of land? Yes. This was standard. When money and resources are scarce to the level where children are dying in large numbers it’s safe to say there is not going to be a nice little fund set aside for a carved stone or a mahogany coffin. Neither for one child, nor for many.

    Get real would you.

    37
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    Mute William Nunan
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:00 PM

    hippocratheet,
    Extending the scope of the dead babies investigation is interesting. Millions died in the famine, they are in unmarked graves. Would blind allegiance to the catholic church teaching be responsible for the famine also. Would Enda like to get on this bandwagon as well.

    23
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    Mute John Michael
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    Jun 10th 2014, 11:16 PM

    Protestant evangelists travelled over from England with food aid for the starving. They probably also had in mind proselytising the poor and needy to their faith. The Catholic Church did all in its power to stop these missionaries. They felt it was better to have dead Catholics than live Protestants.

    37
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    Mute Seán Ó'Ceallaigh
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    Jun 11th 2014, 10:36 PM

    It all boils down to Cardinal Cullen’s hijacking of post famine Ireland after The Synod of Thurles in 1850. Naomi Klein’s book: “Shock Doctrine” comes to mind. “We have tried to govern Ireland by conciliation and have failed. No other means are now open to us except those we are resolved on using, namely, to govern Ireland through Rome.
    British prime minister Lord John Russell

    http://books.google.ie/books?id=jkNfHamcEhEC&pg=PA62&dq=governing+ireland+through+rome%2Bbritish+prime+minister&hl=en&sa=X&ei=xsmYU7OeAsae7AbB9YGoBQ&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=governing%20ireland%20through%20rome%2Bbritish%20prime%20minister&f=false

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    Mute Beabad Bishop
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:41 PM

    The president of Ireland made this statement with respect to the #Tuambabies “Now what is important is that of all of the questions that are provoked by this are answered and are answered adequately with the assistance of science and foresnics” . So why haven’t the gardai proclaimed the site of the alleged burials a crime scene ? why are they playing it down ? Who are they protecting ? Those child victims deserve better ! We deserve better !

    32
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    Mute Beabad Bishop
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:33 PM

    There is every reason to suggest that at a minimum Negligent homicide took place on a large scale in many of these so called homes. The powers that be will try to lessen the extent of the horror
    This warrants a criminal investigation as
    A minimum by a body external to the Irish state. Can we really trust the government and gardai or the church to do the right thing here ? Call in UN investigators !

    21
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    Mute John Murphy
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    Jun 10th 2014, 7:37 PM

    Looks like the lot of them are too religious to care.

    21
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    Mute John Fogarty
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    Jun 10th 2014, 6:40 PM

    Hi Hugh.
    While this is good news just want to raise something with you while Bethany is often referred to as the “Protestant Home” that is incorrect . It was run by an Independent Trust. Here is a statement by a C of I bishop calling for its inclusion but he also states that Bethany wasn’t “Protestant run” . It is widely reported as such in the media but it is not true
    http://dublin.anglican.org/news/2014/06/Statement-from-the-Most-Revd-Dr-Michael-Jackson-the-Archbishop-of-Dublin-on-Mother-and-Baby-Homes.php

    19
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    Mute SeanieRyan
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    Jun 10th 2014, 8:04 PM

    An Independent trust made up of C.o.I figures.

    25
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    Mute John Fogarty
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    Jun 10th 2014, 11:13 PM

    I don’t believe it was just C of I. Protestantism encompasses more than one denomination and is there a particular reason theJournal has forgotten its basic grammar. Should Protestants be spelt with a capital P. Twice in the article it’s with a lower case.

    15
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    Mute Margaret Whelan
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:50 PM

    The church has a lot to answer for.

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    Mute Margaret Whelan
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    Jun 10th 2014, 10:46 PM

    When will grave in Tuam be checked out.

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