Mother and baby home campaigner died three months before his redress case was due before High Court
Fellow survivors, campaigners, family members and friends of the late Derek Linster, a former Bethany Home survivor and long-time campaigner gathered for a memorial service in his honour at Mount Jerome cemetary in Dublin. Photograph Moya Nolan
A memorial service for one of the country’s well-known mother and baby home campaigners, has heard he died three months before his case for redress who due before the High Court.
Up to 40 people gathered at Mount Jerome Church in Dublin to remember Derek Linster, a survivor of the Protestant-run institution, who died on 19 November 2022.
The 81-year-old had started the process of challenging the Irish State, the Minister for Children, and the Attorney General for survivors of the Bethany homes nearly two decades ago.
He had argued they should not have been excluded from the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002.
However, the case, which was finally lodged in 2021, was due in court in February shortly after Mr Linster passed away unexpectedly at his home in Rugby in England.
Speaking to the congregation, his daughter Amanda, who travelled from the UK to the service with her siblings, said it was “a complex and arduous fight" that was due in court in February 2023.
“He would have been furious he never made it. But he was instrumental in establishing a headstone, here at Mount Jerome, that recognises the names of hundreds of babies who died while in the care of the Bethany home. So, their names will never be forgotten”.
Mr Linster believed that the survivors of the Bethany home and other Protestant institutions had the same right to redress as industrial school survivors.
Dr Niall Meehan who helped Mr Linster uncover the names of the 222 babies who died in the Bethany homes, said, “He knew he was going to die before he ever received justice.
“That is the fear of many of the aging survivors. This current redress scheme for the mother and baby homes has also not been rolled out yet and Derek himself said he would die before he got justice.
“He argued that the Bethany survivors should never have been excluded from the then-original 2002 redress scheme. He believed he had the right then to be part of the process and to tell his story.
“Bethany survivors were excluded at that stage. He got the case into court in the last few years and was making progress, he was forcing the State to produce documents. But sadly, he didn’t make it."
The legal proceedings had been delayed on several occasions, including May 2022 when the court heard Mr. Linster did not consent to an extension of time being given to the state.
Céile Varley BL who represented him told the court at the time that her client was “an elderly man in poor health” and that he was “one of a handful” of Bethany home survivors who was living.
Chrissie Tully 91, who is a survivor of the Tuam mother and baby home paid tribute to Mr Linster saying “what happened to him is what we all fear, and he knew he would die before he got justice. I am very sorry about his passing. He was a good man who fought like a warrior.
“When you get to this age, you’re on borrowed time. Too many survivors passed away without getting their justice. I am facing this myself”.
The hour-and-a-half service also heard how Derek was a “devoted, sensitive and loving father” to his late wife and children.
His daughter Amanda told the , “I’m really proud of everything that he achieved for the monument for the Bethany babies, that will be there for generations to come.
“He didn’t necessarily have the background to achieve that, but he was so determined, he just wouldn’t give up. We are incredibly proud of him; we have lived the whole journey with him.
“He couldn’t have done all that without the help of Dr Niall Meehan also who did incredible work finding out the names of the little children who lay in an unmarked grave for so many years."
Derek was born 3 July 1941 in Dublin’s Bethany home to unmarried parents from Cavan. He was very ill as a child but believed he was lucky to be adopted at the age of four.
His daughter said, “Shockingly during his time with his adopted family, he was both physically and mentally abused”.
She said he “left school at 13 with limited social reading and writing skills. He found this a great embarrassment throughout his life. However, he was determined to improve, and I remember him attending evening school as an adult”.
As a teenager he discovered a talent for boxing and for 25 years he trained three times a week and won many fights before he was awarded the title of Outstanding amateur boxer of the year in 1982.
Mr Linster’s wife Carol passed away in December 2019 and he is survived by his four children Deborah, Amanda, Gail, and Kerry.
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