Clodagh Finn: Report shows testimonies of survivors still not taken seriously

Aged 19, Clodagh Finn sat down to write a letter to find out about her birth at St Patrick’s mother and baby home. She didn't know that her mother was living around the corner

Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman could make birth certs available immediately by inserting a single-paragraph amendment to the Civil Registration Act. Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

When, aged 19, I sat down to write a letter to find out about my beginnings at St Patrick’s mother and baby home, I could not have known the woman who gave birth to me there was living around the corner.

I remember looking out the window of my bedsit, searching for the right words. Essentially, I just wanted to let my birth mother know that I was okay and I truly hoped she was too. What I didn’t realise at the time was that I could simply have walked for five minutes and delivered the message in person.