Names of those who died in Castlepollard mother and baby home published

The support group for survivors of the Mother and Baby Home in Castlepollard have released the names of more 200 babies and women who died at the home.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner yesterday, spokesperson Paul Redmond, who was born in the home, said that the group felt that the timing was right to release the names of their “crib mates” who died.

See the full list here.

Read the full statement here:

The Castlepollard Mother and Baby home group consists of about 370 former residents, family members and supporters from our former home in County Westmeath. About 4,000 women and girls went through the home and approx 4,000 babies were born there. 

We are a registered non-profit and democratic group. Today, after a respectful and dignified discussion followed by a group vote, we are releasing the names of every baby, child, and mother known to have died at the institution during its 36 year operation from 1935 to 1971.

No individual names or contact details will be included in this press release; this is a decision by all of us collectively. There will not be a follow up press release to this statement and any future releases wil be dependent on the consultative process set up within the group.

There were at least 203 registered deaths and while we believe there may be a small number of additions from the last few years of its operation, the list is substantially complete.

There are 77 Stillbirths recorded in the Castlepollard ledgers over 24 years of its 36-year history. Some early ledgers are either missing or did not exist so a final figure cannot be collated. We believe the majority of the babies and children are buried in the well defined, walled area called the Angel's Plot on the grounds of the former home with at least one marked grave for a mother who died in the home in 1939.

Our records give us the figure of three hundred babies, children and mothers passing away while in the care of Castlepollard Mother and Baby home.    
The Castlepollard group has held an annual commemoration in the Angel's Plot every August since 2011.

Last year, over 90 people attended from around the world including America, the UK, Spain and South Africa and all over Ireland, north and south.

We will continue to remember them and visit them every year without fail.
Our fallen brothers and sisters are our 'crib mates' and we cherish them from the deepest parts of our hearts and our lives. We do not feel a need to say anything more about this list as the names, ages, and causes of death speak for themselves more eloquently than we ever could.

May our crib mates Rest In Peace.