Mother and baby home survivors go to UN for help

(Above) CMABS chairperson Paul Redmond outside the mother and baby home in Castlepollard.

The survivors of the mother and baby home in Castlepollard and other facilities around the country have gone to the UN for assistance with its campaign to get the state to provide redress and other supports.

In addition to lodging a formal complaint to the United Nations, the Coalition of Mother And Baby Home Survivors (CMABS) has also issued a formal petition to the European Parliament, as well as well as appeals to both the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe and the international Commission of Jurists for “urgent assistance in forcing Ireland to live up to its moral and international obligations”.

In a statement released to the Westmeath Examiner, CMABS said that the government has an “unofficial strategy of deny till they die”.

“It is now well over five years since justice was promised by the then Taoiseach Enda Kenny. An Inquiry announced in 2015 was scheduled to report in a maximum of three years, yet over five years later, it too has requested extension after extension, all of which have been granted by uncaring governments and Ministers. Survivors, meanwhile, have watched in dismay as their fellow survivors have passed away without seeing justice, apologies or redress. Nor are these the only issues where justice has been denied. There are several ongoing scandals regarding thousands of illegal adoptions in Ireland's dark past but these matters have been wilfully excluded from the current never ending Inquiry in favour of pointless and unrepresentative talking shops.

“..We are not going away and CMABS and our legal advisors are currently preparing cases for the European courts and exploring all other avenues to finally get justice.

CMABS chairman Paul Redmond, who was born in the mother and baby home in Castlepollard, said: "Once again, survivors have been forced outside of Ireland to seek justice. Our current crop of politicians appear to have learned nothing but weasel words and broken promises over the last five years. Are there no honourable politicians left in Ireland?”