Survivors and creatives to ‘break the silence’ on Ireland’s dark Mother and  Baby Homes legacy

A special online event will be livestreamed from the National Concert Hall tonight to ‘break the silence’ around Ireland’s dark legacy of mother and baby homes and other institutions.

The event is taking place as part of the International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD) and will feature words and song from survivors, writers, and artists.

Titled ‘Breaking the Silence’, author of Republic of Shame Caelainn Hogan has worked with generational survivors of the institutions to put on the free one-off event which can be viewed online from 8pm tonight.

The event will hear from high-profile survivors, many of whom have turned to the arts to tell their story and share their experiences of life in these institutions and the long-term impacts they have had on their lives.

Actor and adoption rights advocate Noelle Brown. Picture: Ste Murray.

Among those taking part are: Elaine Feeney, poet, novelist, playwright and creative at the Tuam Oral History Project; Terri Harrison, musician and survivor who was forcibly separated from her son through the religious-run institutions; Noelle Brown, actor, writer and adoption rights activist who co-wrote and performed in the play ‘Postscript’ about searching for her origins; Peter Mulryan, a survivor of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home; Philomena Mullen, writer and academic who grew up in Ireland's institutional system; and Majella Moynihan, who was forced to give her son up for adoption, charged with breaching Garda regulations for being pregnant outside of marriage.

Loah, who will take part in tonight's event.

Also taking part are Jess Kav, singer, writer and poet who speaks about the generational impact of the institutions; musician Loah, who starred as Mary Magdalene in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar; and the Mary Wallopers, a folk group from Dundalk who have travelled Ireland singing and collecting songs.

‘Breaking the Silence’ can be viewed on the National Concert Hall’s YouTube or Facebook page or on ILFD’s crowdcast stream from 8pm onwards.