Heard that excerpt from the radio this morning of one of the nuns who spoke about “twenty acres of land with green houses and fruit and veg….of course they were fed”. How come the reports of malnourished and emaciated kids then? The Great Delusion continues!

Of course the religious orders involved were totally wrong Rachel but my point is that the families of these girls threw there daughters out of home knowing that the only place they had to go was to one of these homes & that their baby would be taken from them. I was born in the 50s so know exactly the influence the Catholic Church had but I also know of women who had the support of family & were looked after and kept their babies so it wasn’t an impossibility. As a mother myself I know that regardless of who would try and influence me, the welfare of my children would always be the most important thing & I know that if I got pregnant as a young unmarried girl my own parents would have supported me fully. I think all concerned need to take responsibility for their part in this very sad situation & I just get very annoyed thinking of old people who disowned their own flesh and blood because of “keeping up appearances” still out there and taking none of the blame. The Church was wrong but these people were equally as wrong and that should not be brushed under the carpet either.

Mark I suggest you rub your eyes and read my comment again, perhaps you missed it, here let me say it again: the RCC and government hand in hand!………No point in blaming those who were brainwashed, the source needs to be held accountable in Irelands case the government and the RCC, perhaps a separation of church and state would be a good place to start along with a long overdue apology from the RCC!

Rachel nobody was brainwashed to such an extent as to lose all love and empathy. The families who abandoned their girls knew exactly what they were doing & put their social standing and keeping up appearances before anything else. Shame on them. Not all parents did that so it is wrong to say all Irish people were brainwashed by the Church, influenced yes but everybody has to take responsibility for their own actions. I know of girls who were disowned by families when they became pregnant & it was the whole thing of not wanting the neighbours know more than the Church that led to that happening.

Rachel the Catholic Church wasn’t the only church to have these homes there were Protestant ones too.
The parents have to hold some responsibility they took their daughters to these homes relatives and neighbours knew what was happening and did nothing in fact some took their own daughters back if they escaped and refused to give them money to secure their release; some parents supported their daughters therefore the brainwashing was not widespread.
Both my grandmothers were daily mass goers but both supported single mothers in their communities along with their families.

Mary my mother was of your generation she came from a one parent family and she also grew up right around the corner from Bessborough! In my mothers case the only thing that kept her family out of industrial schools was the fact her father worked for the mercy convent as a caretaker, he got permission to keep his kids as the nuns he worked for declared him an upstanding citizen, he was religious, paid his dues and was afforded the right to keep his kids that’s not to say he wasn’t subjected to the “council man” calling every couple of years apon which more permission from the church had to be obtained and a monetary donation to the local priest helped that process along so I do know what I’m talking about probably more than most! My mother has some stories about bessborough and what went on behind those walls, as kids they snuck up there and saw with their own eyes heavily pregnant women down on their hands and knees pulling grass from the verge along the drive and in the adjacent field! I myself as part of transition year had to partake in a religious retreat in bessborough, the lenght of that drive was nearly a half a mile long, it had a big farm with huge sheds for cattle and other livestock, you hardly think the few nuns who worked there at the time looked after that all by themselves, no it was the poor women who were sent there who did that while as usual the nuns and local clergy sat back and raked in the money!

Wanaka this is exactly my point, if the will was there by the families to support a girl it could be done & many families did, so it is wrong to somehow believe that everybody was almost hypnotised and had no control over their actions. Parents knew well what was in store for their girls when they sent them to one of these homes but it was all about appearances in many cases. Shame on them.

No, they wouldn’t. I also was born in the fifties and, until recent times, knew of. NO ONE who had a child out of wedlock and was supported by their families or community. I think you are fantasising about the little house on the prairie, or the Waltons. Deflect away

Rachel I am not in any way doubting what you are saying about Bessborough or any other of these homes but remember it was in most cases a girls own PARENTS who brought her here and abandoned her in her most needy hour and most of the time it was done for appearances sake. I know many cases personally of families who did support their girls & helped with the rearing of their babies so if the will was there it was quite possible to do it so Shame on Parents who abandoned their girls also.

Wanaka I did say above it was mostly the RCC but I know other religions were involved as well, I’m not condoning their actions either but the majority of the atrocities in this country was carried out by the RCC

Rachel I’m not disagreeing with you I too believe the religious in this country and elsewhere have a lot to answer for but the parents aren’t blameless.
There are many people in this country who were brought up to believe their grandparents were there parents or an older married sibling raised a child as their own for younger sisters. It was still happening in the late 60′s and early 70′s that grandparents raised grandchildren as their own children.
Your grandfather is someone to be proud of can’t have been easy for a man in those days, my own grandmother raised her family alone when her husband died young certainly not an easy task in ’50′s Ireland.

Mary if there was some women who weren’t sent they were very much in the minority! If my grandfather who earned an incone had to essentialy pay to keep his family intact what chance did a poor unemployed girl have? Also again sex was seen as a sin, these girls were sent under the guise of religious instruction probably from the local priest who were quasi gods in their own right at the time!

Fair point Wanaka, I bet though those that did manage to hold on to their kids greased the hands of the local clergy with money!…..Thank you I am proud he was by all accounts one in a million, sadly he passed when I was a babe in arms so I didn’t get to know him, from what I hear though he was a fair and loving man someone my mother and her siblings speak very fondly of :)