Vigil for Rosie McKinney heard 'she got justice in the end' from sharing her incredible story

Maureen Sullivan, Rosie Mc Kinney's daughter Margaret, Dianne Croghan, and Patricia Twomeyb with Joe Costello outside the Seán McDermott Street former Magdalene Laundry. Picture: Moya Nolan

The daughter of a woman who had two children taken by the nuns in the Tuam mother and baby home has said her mother “got justice in the end” when the world read her harrowing story.

Rosie McKinney, aged 86, made headlines last year, when she told the Irish Examiner how she had threatened to set her dogs on the nuns and gardaí when tried to return her to a Magdalene Laundry in Galway after she escaped.

At the time, the young woman from Dunmore had been in the Tuam home twice, where her son and daughter were taken and adopted, before she was locked up in the Galway Magdalene laundry.

The campaigner and activist passed away on New Year’s Day in the Mater hospital after a short illness, and to celebrate her mother's life and legacy, her daughter Margaret held a vigil at the Sean MacDermott Street former laundry.

“She might have had a tough life, but she got her justice in the end,” said Ms McKinney. 

My mother never wanted to be seen as a victim, and she was campaigning quietly for years for the Magdalenes and mother and baby survivors.

Rosie McKinley only went public with her own story in her interview with the Irish Examiner.

“The love she got back from the community, loads and loads of people read her story online, and that was my mother’s justice.

“She found the courage to tell her story, she wasn’t ashamed and never saw herself as a victim and she would always say ‘I was not the only one, we all went through it’.

A photo of Rosie McKinney at her funeral last month, at Christ the King Church, Cabra Dublin. Picture: Gareth Chaney

Ms McKinney said she saw her mother break down “only once” about her traumatic earlier years.

In the short piece on TikTok, Rosie hit out at the nuns saying, what they did to young mothers and children was “cruel”.

She described her suffering and said "sometimes I wish I could take my own life, but then I can’t leave Margaret’, before putting her face in her hands and sobbing.

The harrowing clip was viewed more than 700,000 and her daughter said that was the only time she saw her mother “upset over her past”.

“Once she started crying, I had to turn it off, but she was glad she did.

All the grandchildren and the young kids in the area, they would come up to her and say ‘Rosie I read your story fair play’, they all loved her. I want to thank everyone who loved my mam because she felt it and she was happy.

At the vigil, Ms McKinney was joined at the former Magdalene Laundry on Sean McDermott Street with other survivors and activists to pay tribute to her mother. It comes as the go-ahead was given for the building to be renovated into a national remembrance centre for survivors.

Planning permission was granted to the Office of Public Works (OPW) to turn the State’s last Magdalene laundry, which closed almost 30 years ago, into a "national site of conscience”, with a memorial and research centre at its heart.

“Mam wanted a garden of remembrance and for education services to be there and a place for mothers with their kids to get support," said Mags McKinley.

“Rosie fought for what was right for people and was a brave woman, she put it up to the authorities.

“She was cremated, and I have her ashes at home now and this is a lovely thing to do here, for her month’s mind”.

Rosie McKinney with her daughter Mags in St Mary's Cemetery Carlow. Picture: Finbarr O'Rourke

Two of the country’s youngest Magdalene survivors, Diane Croghan aged 84 and Maureen Sullivan aged 72 attended the event, along with Patricia Twomey who starred in Small Things Like These and former Labour Minister for State and lifelog friend of the McKinneys and campaigner, Joe Costello.

Ms Croghan who was locked up in the Summerhill laundry in Wexford at 8 years, said she too had escaped from the nuns in a laundry basket with her friend at 13 years, before they separated, and she walked to Dublin and never looked back.

“I am delighted this centre is being turned into a museum and it is important for survivors”.

Maureen Sullivan, who was put into the New Ross Laundry at 12, because her stepfather was sexually abusing her, said “I think the remembrance centre is one of the best decisions I have heard being made throughout the whole process.

“We got our redress and our apology. How much more do we want? This is powerful”.