Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
It’s not where you come from… I’m me, it doesn’t change who I am. At the end of the day if anybody has to stand up for these people, somebody has to without shame.
FOR MARY COLLINS and her daughter Laura Stewart, a trip from the UK to Cork this month will be full of difficult memories. Together, they will travel to St Finbarr’s cemetery in Glasheen on the 27th to light candles and remember Angelina Collins, Mary’s mother who died at a Magdalene laundry.
They will remember not just Angelina, who they say died after years of abuse, but the other women and children of Magdalene laundries across Ireland. Mary grew up in an industrial school after being removed from her mother’s care, and said she suffers post-traumatic stress disorder from the abuse she suffered there.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, the pair underlined how much they believe the Irish State needs to apologise to the children of Magdalene women – a State apology was given to the women themselves in 2013 – and how they feel they have been forgotten by Ireland.
The Collins family.
It’s understood that at least 1,663 former Magdalene women are buried in Irish cemeteries – many in unmarked graves. In 2013, Taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to Magdalene women in an emotional speech, saying the laundries “have cast a long shadow over Irish life”.
Collins told TheJournal.ie that her mother, an unmarried Traveller woman, was put into a Magdalene laundry, while Collins was put into an industrial school.
Collins visited her mother from the age of seven but said she didn’t realise until she was an adult the true extent of what her mother had gone through while at the laundry.
Collins said she herself was abused while in the industrial school, leaving her with post-traumatic stress disorder. Stewart and Collins protested outside the Dáil and Department of Justice last year to call for justice for the children of Magdalene women, saying they want a full apology from the State and acknowledgement of what the women and children went through.
They also say that a full investigation needs to take place around Magdalene mass graves.
Angelina’s story
Angelina Collins was living in a caravan in Tuam when she was taken and placed into a county home with Mary.
Her eldest daughter Margaret – aged 14 – was placed into a laundry. Margaret later took her own life at the age of 27, on Christmas day. Her youngest child Teresa was taken into care and later adopted.
Angelina escaped with Mary but after being found, Mary was placed into an industrial school and Angelina into a laundry.
Stewart said that records state her grandmother was “a good mum and all the children were healthy”, and believes she was taken into a county home due to being an unmarried Traveller mother.
Angelina did not go out and rob a shop and got herself arrested – she was a mother caring for her children.
“All it is based on is she didn’t have a ring on her finger and was a Traveller,” said Stewart.
Mary Collins said that discovering the true story of the Magdalene women “was a big shock to me – that my mother suffered inside the laundry”.
“Growing up they made me hate her,” she said, describe how she was told she was being beaten because of who her mother was. “It came as a big shock to find my mother was being locked in and tortured as I was.”
Mary said that she used to be very ashamed of who she is and where she came from, but since her son suffered a serious illness she has realised the importance of heritage and family.
“[My son] turned around and said ‘when I’m big I will put flowers on the grave,’ it touched me for the first time that this woman is related to these children.”
This kicked off her campaigning on behalf of her mother and women like her.
She said that a further shock came when she read the Magdalene Commission Report. “When the report came out I was shocked again because the children were left out of this commission and report,” said Mary.
“I feel Ireland has been neglecting the children of these women,” said Laura Stewart, herself the mother of young children. “My mum went over for the Magdalene apology and was hoping they would include the children that were made to visit the laundries and see their mums. Children shouldn’t have been made to go through that. What they had to go through was enough.”
Advertisement
“My family history is history that should be put to rest. What they don’t understand is my mum travels over [to Ireland and] it’s all out of her pocket. My mum shouldn’t have to do all those things to gain justice for what happened to her innocent mum.”
Both Stewart and her mother say that the government should look at the Magdalene laundries, mother-and-baby homes and industrial schools together, as they believe they were all connected.
“They are wasting more money opening commissions when what you have to do is look at these things as a whole,” said Stewart.
Stewart said that the hurt the situation has caused is filtering through the generations of the family.
“When I was younger I didn’t understand it and now it’s beginning to affect me,” she said. “It makes me so sad for [my mum] and my family sometimes – I wonder how she feels and how she’s hurting.”
She said that she wants the Irish government to “see the hurt and acknowledge it, and they have to because at the end of the day they don’t understand the suffering that these people are going through”.
“I want an apology for the children the same way they gave it to the women,” said Mary. “I want the apology. I do want the apology and it would help me because it would be the first time I had been recognised and my mother recognised as an irish citizen.”
The pair also hope that by drawing attention to the mass grave, other family members of the women buried there will come forward to claim them.
Mass grave
Since she found out about her mother’s story, Mary Collins said she hasn’t been able to visit the gravesite.
“It made me physically sick and angry thinking about that.” But this year, she has decided it is time to return to her mother’s grave.
Thirteen years ago, she had the mass grave at St Finbarr’s cleaned and a single headstone for her mother was placed on it. She knows the forthcoming visit will take an emotional toll.
“If I’m totally honest with you I don’t want to be there. I feel I’m being forced to do it. I think it is going to affect me. I don’t want to be there. It just reminds me of all those poor dear ladies I knew [who are buried there].”
She wants her mother’s remains to removed from the grave so she can bury her, but said she hasn’t heard back from the order in charge of the grave.
She has also been in contact with the police over a woman she says abused her in the home. The woman no longer lives in Ireland.
If she ever meets this woman, Collins said she wants to “ask her that question: ‘Why?’ Look at me, I am not dirty.”
‘Somebody has to stand up for these people’
Angelina in the Magdalene laundry (right) Laura Stewart
Laura Stewart
At 18, Mary moved to the UK to work caring for a family’s children. “I was very in on myself,” was how she described her demeanour back then.
“I didn’t communicate. I didn’t make friends. I was very deep but I was always the person that cared just for people who suffered.”
She was 28 when her mother died at the age of 57.
Today, she works with people who have mental health issues, and says that her own experiences help her to have the skills to “fight… for them”.
I learned it from life experiences. People that learned it from textbooks, they wonder where I get these skills from but at the end of the day, if you are institutionalised you are able to relate.
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
150 rounds of drinks ordered at the Dáil's bars on the day TDs failed to elect a new Taoiseach
38 mins ago
892
12
Dublin
What exactly is 'affordable' housing ... and how much should it cost?
6 hrs ago
2.2k
Darndale
Discovery of human hand in yard of Dublin primary school not thought to be malicious
Updated
12 hrs ago
54.2k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say