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Bethany Survivors Group Ireland via Fa

Cabinet 'to make decision on Bethany Home next week'

The survivors who lived in the home have been calling for a number of years for redress and an apology for their time there.

A DECISION ON redress and an apology for the former residents of the Bethany Home is expected to be made next week.

Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald said that a commitment has been made by the Taoiseach that cabinet will make its decision on the Protestant Bethany Home when it meets next week.

Former residents of the home, who spent time there when they were children, have been campaigning for redress and an apology from the Government for what occurred there.

Derek Leinster, chairperson of the Bethany Survivors Group, said that they are “now hoping [the Government is] going to do the right thing”.

However, he added: “Every time we hear something it’s a couple of steps up and another couple back.”

The survivors are now hopeful that they will see a positive resolution to their calls for redress. “It’s great news and very positive news and we can only hope that they are starting to do the right thing,” said Leinster. “For the few people that’s left, it’ll mean so much. It’ll mean so much for Ireland – it will be seen in a different light.”

Ignored

McDonald said:

This small number of surviving men and women were ignored by the previous government, and were deliberately excluded from the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme on a false pretence.
Bethany Home was not simply a mother and baby Home. It was a children’s home, which shared all the brutal characteristics of the Industrial Schools and the Magdalene Laundries.

She added that Fine Gael and Labour in opposition have also acknowledged the “horrific neglect” of children in the home. Bethany survivors have previously met with the Justice Minister Alan Shatter on the issue, and also spoken to other Oireachtas members.

McDonald said:

Testimony provided to Oireachtas members earlier this year painted a brutal picture of the neglect suffered by survivors when they were children resident in Bethany Home. One man spoke of being hospitalised for bronchial pneumonia, diphtheria, pertussis and gastroenteritis, another of having continuous anaemia and of rickets of the head.

She added that State inspections of Bethany under the Registration of Maternity Homes Act record the “horrendous neglect” of children in the home.

“There can be no further delay by government in delivering justice for the Bethany Home survivors,” said McDonald.

Survivors

Derek Leinster, chairperson of the Bethany Survivors Group, wrote in recent weeks to the Taoiseach abut the way he and his colleagues refer to the home, and calling for redress.

He asked the Taoiseach and Ministers not to refer to the home as a ‘mother and baby home’.

The survivors wish for a memorial to be built at Mount Jerome Cemetery, where the bodies of around 200 children from the home were found in unmarked graves.

Bethany Home survivor Paul Graham, who lives in Australia, wrote for TheJournal.ie about his experiences, including his journey to find out more about his identity.

Leinister and Patrick Anderson-McQuoid, a fellow survivor, also described the impact their time at the home had on their lives.

Read: Consideration on Bethany Home redress to be concluded ‘in weeks’>

Column: I’m a Bethany Home survivor and, at 74 years old, I’m finally happy>

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4 Comments
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    Mute
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    Jun 20th 2021, 4:48 PM

    Why don’t the government build a brand new hospital off the M50 accessible by road and public transport a hospital that’s not smack bang in the middle of the city and while building the hospital make it so that it has a helipad and no neighbours to protest every time a helicopter has to land in the nearest Rugby/GAA pitch and to alíviate not landing in a pitch have the helipad on the hospital roof. For the love and honour agree a final price all included and tie the contractor into it.

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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    Jun 20th 2021, 7:43 PM

    This hospital isn’t smack bang in the middle the city centre. The hospital has a bus routes stop outside both entrance to the grounds. Sydney parade dart station is 5 minutes walk away. And there is a multi story carpark on the site with another currently under construction.

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    Mute ChronicAnxiety
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    Jun 20th 2021, 7:58 PM

    @Roy Dowling: it is a NATIONAL maternity hospital , not a South county Dublin Maternity hospital,

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Jun 20th 2021, 8:21 PM

    @ChronicAnxiety: the point is that the St Vincent’s site is easily accessible by public transport as well as car.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Jun 20th 2021, 8:34 PM

    @: the whole point of locating it alongside a general hospital and not as a stand-alone on the M50 was that in the case of complications there’d be immediate access to the emergency services that an acute general hospital provides.

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    Mute Rory J Leonard
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    Jun 21st 2021, 7:48 AM

    @Roy Dowling:

    “Sydney Parade Dart Station is five minutes walk away”

    Ronnie Delaney, in his prime, wouldn’t have ran the true distance in that time!

    I wouldn’t be using that as a selling point for the proposed new maternity hospital!

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    Mute Dave Barrett
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    Jun 20th 2021, 4:32 PM

    Looks like another disaster like the children’s hospital is on the cards.

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    Mute Jeff Rudd
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    Jun 20th 2021, 6:35 PM

    @Dave Barrett: If BAM has anything to do with it – yes!

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    Mute Darren Carroll
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    Jun 20th 2021, 4:35 PM

    Must be an election coming soon somewhere, chap is working overtime this weekend

    110
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    Mute ChronicAnxiety
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    Jun 20th 2021, 8:01 PM

    @Darren Carroll: FG are getting in it on the streets of DBS , does not help that James Geoghegan is on the board of the national maternity hospital and a founding member of renua.

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    Mute Dan
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    Jun 20th 2021, 4:36 PM

    Just start afresh….ask for the so called land that they handed over to be given over fully, no strings, no lease, no funny business.. any strings attached just walk away….everyone will see it as it is…dont waste a penny of our money on those folks… look for land that we do own and build there

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    Mute Mickety Dee
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    Jun 20th 2021, 4:43 PM

    @Dan: I think the sister’s of charity want to be paid for the land. It seems charity doesn’t extend to the provision of a maternity hospital

    89
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    Mute Skipper Mac
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    Jun 20th 2021, 5:35 PM

    @Mickety Dee: as far as I know Sisters of Charity are happy to give the land for the expansion of Saint Vincent’s and the new Maternity Hospital. However under the condition that the ethos of the hospital would remain Catholic.

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    Mute Mickety Dee
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    Jun 20th 2021, 6:10 PM

    @Skipper Mac: But that’s not being offered.

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    Mute Jeff Rudd
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    Jun 21st 2021, 11:45 AM

    @Skipper Mac: @Skipper Mac: They were to gift it to the state – they stated this – but instead, actually gifted it to a further religious setup connected to themselves.

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    Mute Pete Lee
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    Jun 20th 2021, 6:46 PM

    Have they paid money owed from abuse agreements?

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    Mute Annmarie Taylor
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    Jun 20th 2021, 7:02 PM

    @Pete Lee: No of course not.

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    Mute DB
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    Jun 20th 2021, 5:25 PM

    The mind boggles that even St Vincent’s have to be asked to give the land .

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    Mute Benny McHale
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    Jun 20th 2021, 7:36 PM

    Get the Chinese to design and build a maternity hospital on the Naas Road. They’d have it done in a couple of months.

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    Mute leartius
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    Jun 20th 2021, 9:23 PM

    It’s such a laugh. Think back to 2017. In march 2017 Leo announced
    Leo Varadkar says Government ‘cannot seize church lands’.
    “A referendum on giving the Government powers to seize lands owned by the Catholic Church in order to recoup a shortfall in payments for abuse victims would probably be lost, Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has said.
    Mr Varadkar was speaking after Minister for Health Simon Harris said there would be “significant merit” in seizing hospital and school property in light of a report which showed shortcomings in the church’s contribution to a redress scheme for those abused in Catholic institutions.”
    4 years later, Leo Varadkar says Government ‘hasn’t ruled out’ CPO of National Maternity Hospital site. That’s some comfort.

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    Mute Sean
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    Jun 20th 2021, 9:34 PM

    @leartius: I’m not entirely sure what your point is. I don’t think you are either. A CPO is a forced sale but it’s not the same as seizing. And he’s still saying it can’t be done so it’s not like he’s changed his tune.

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    Mute Ron Ashenden
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    Jun 21st 2021, 9:07 AM

    Can someone tell me why it has to be built in Dublin and not for the whole of the country say Mullingar

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    Mute Martin Sinnott
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    Jun 21st 2021, 7:28 AM

    Stop. Shame on the politicians
    .l just start building

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    Mute Martin Sinnott
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    Jun 21st 2021, 7:27 AM

    Stop. Sh

    1
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