Bessborough survivor: 'The shame belongs with them'

Terri Harrison holding the only photograph she has of her first-born son Niall, who was born in St Patrick's mother and naby home on Dublin's Navan Rd in October 1973. Baby Niall was taken away from Terri a number of weeks later for adoption without her consent. Picture: Moya Nolan

Survivors of mother and baby homes and other State institutions have been let down and only an international investigation can shed light on the “human rights violations” of the past, according to Bessborough survivor Terri Harrison.

The 66-year-old Dublin campaigner is one of 13 women from Ireland and the North who have requested that the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate the ‘violent legacy’ of mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries, and industrial schools.