'The content of the emails sent to the Taoiseach by survivors is truly unsettling'

Bed sheets with the names of hundreds of dead children draped on the gates of a mass burial site at Tuam. File picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Dozens of letters sent to the Taoiseach reveal the deep pain felt by many survivors of mother and baby homes who are still denied access to information about who they are.

Some 50 people contacted Micheál Martin after the publication of the report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission. 

Many of those called on the Government to urgently publish a bill that would give them access to their birth certs and other personal information.

Children's minister Roderic O'Gorman had initially indicated that a tracing and information bill would be brought to Cabinet by the end of March, however, legal issues have delayed this and it is now expected that this will discussed by ministers in the coming weeks.

One person who contacted the Taoiseach said that there are thousands of people who are seeking to "fill in at least some of the banks" about who they are.

"Taoiseach, you are just looking at a screen reading this, but let me tell you, I am a real person. All throughout my life I have been a lesser person, because of the circumstances surrounding my birth. I am still today a non-entity, somebody less than everybody else.

"I am writing this with tears streaming down my face and have had to start and stop so many times just to get to this point. Can you imagine, Taoiseach, if someone clicked their fingers and you, yes you, had no name, no mother, no father, no history, no relations, no memories, no background, but somebody had it in their gift to fill in at least some of these blanks. There are thousands of us today like that — but at least I am here to write this, unlike so many others."

Another person told the Taoiseach that her mother’s only sin was to be born in a mother and baby home.

"She spent her life in and out of hospital, unable to cope with being less. I want justice for my mother who, as a child, could hear herself screaming for her mother. The memory haunts me to this day. I want her records. I want to try to heal and to try to understand why she, on her deathbed, cried out for her mother."

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said: The content of the emails sent to the Taoiseach by survivors is truly unsettling. I have read every one of them, and I am deeply moved by them." Picture:Gareth Chaney/Collins

Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín who received the information via Freedom of Information (FOI) called on the Taoiseach and Mr O'Gorman to set up a meeting with the survivors and provide a clear date for the publication of ‘information and tracing legislation

“The content of the emails sent to the Taoiseach by survivors is truly unsettling. I have read every one of them, and I am deeply moved by them.

The tone throughout is primarily one of sadness, and the issues raised are all the same — many survivors have struggled to get their hands on the report, many are wondering about their birth parents or their records, and many more are sharing their experiences of growing up in an Ireland where they felt unwanted and unloved.

Mr Tóibín accused the Government of failing to understand the urgency and said that "for many of these survivors they’ve spent decades searching for their mothers or children".

"The clock is ticking loudly, and poignantly.

" The Government must commit to responding to these emails individually, to meeting with the survivors, and to setting the date upon which they will publish the legislation."