Many Mother and Baby home report findings 'at odds' with Philomena Lee testimony, court told

Mary Harney said that she was made to cut the lawn of the Bessborough mother and baby home with a pair of scissors

Philomena Lee was sent to the Seán Ross mother and baby home in Co. Tipperary in 1952 after becoming pregnant at the age of 18. File photo: Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland

Numerous findings in the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigations are “at odds” with the testimony submitted by former resident Philomena Lee, the High Court has heard.

Mr Justice Garrett Simons has begun hearing two lead cases - from Ms Lee, now in her 80s and living in England, and Galway-based Mary Harney, who was born in Cork’s Bessborough mother and baby home in 1949 - over the final report, which both women claim does not accurately reflect their evidence to the committee.