Over 1,000 babies die in home

 

A LOCAL woman who spent the first three months of her life in the Sean Ross mother and baby home in Roscrea has said she feels lucky to be alive as it emerged that over 1,000 babies died in the instutution over a 37-year period.

"I was lucky, extremely lucky, and I have no problem in saying that," Portroe resident Teresa Collins told The Guardian as latest figures indicate that as many as 1,024 infants died in the home in Sean Ross which operated from 1930 to 1970.
Ms Collins, whose unmarried mother gave birth to her in the home in 1963, is a member of a Facebook group of survivors who have obtained death certificates for the 1,024 infants and children. The group has also established from its trawl of death certificates that 29 mothers died in the home in the period, the majority relating to pregnancy or childbirth.
Ms Collins said she and other members of the Facebook group are now anxious to establish if remains of people who died in the home are still lying in unidentified unmarked graves on the site. The Mother and Baby Homes Commission, set up to investigate practices and deaths in Sean Ross and other mother and former baby homes in the State, carried out a geophysical survey of the site 20 months ago, but Ms Collins said she and members of the group would like to see further digs to look for remains on the site.
The final report of the commission was due out last February but was postponed until October 31st due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ms Collins said she wanted to see the report published as soon as possible as victims deserved anwers.
 

TIPP TD BROWNE HIGHLIGHTS ISSUE

Tipperary Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne, speaking in the Dáil earlier this month, urged the Taoiseach Michéal Martin to expedite the publication of the final report of the commission.

Deputy Brown referred in the Dáil to "trafficking" of babies born in Sean Ross - a reference to findings that infants were sent abroad - mainly to the US - for adoption by couples who in return paid sums of money to the order of nuns who ran the home.
Deputy Browne told the Taoiseach that survivors impacted by what went on in in the mother and baby homes in the State deserved answers.
"At first they were being told that a small number of death took place in these facilities, but now it is accepted that over one thousand children died in Roscrea, and in some cases in very dubious circumstances," said Deputy Browne.
He asked the Taoiseach to give a commitment for further ground scans to be carried out at the Sean Ross site to try to establish if unidentified unmarked graves exist.
He also urged that the date for the publication of the commission's report be brought forward.
The Taoiseach said he would refer the matter to the Minister for Children and get an official response for Deputy Brown.

THOUSANDS OF UNMARRIED MOTHERS
Official figures show that thousands of unmarried mothers were admitted to Sean Ross over 40 years and that 5,252 babies were born there.
The home was run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary who in 2011 handed over records to the Health Service Executive, subsequently obtained by Tusla.
Tusla has said that the records contained just one death register, which showed that 269 babies died in the home. However, that register relates only to deaths in Saint Gerard's, the maternity section of the building.
It has since emerged that the State register shows at least 1,000 badies died at Sean Ross, a figure that has been confirmed by the commission.
A 'Prime Time Investigates' report for RTE screened last December revealed that the deaths in Sean Ross account for three quarters of all babies and children up to seven-years-old who died in the whole of the Roscrea area over a 36 year period.
The commision has said that an affidavit provided to it by the nuns on the burial of babies was speculative, inaccurate and misleading
It has noted the order of nuns handed over no records on burials for Sean Ross or the other homes they ran.
During their existence, the mother and baby homes were supported by the State who issued grant aid to such institutions.
Sean Ross was one of the largest homes of its kind in the country, catering for unmarried pregnant woman and mothers and their so-called "illegitimate children" who were seen and treated as outcasts by a big part of society in that era.
Of the 1,024 infants who died in Sean Ross, almost half of them, 455, are officially listed as having died from heart failure. Some 128 are registered as dying from "Marasmus" (malnutrition).
Other causes of death included convultions and exhaustion, while two babies died from heat stroke.
One child died from acute heart failure after choking on porridge.