“The shame was not theirs, it was ours.”
More than two decades after the last mother and baby home in Ireland shut its doors, survivors of those institutions have received an apology from the state, delivered by Taoiseach Micheal Martin on Wednesday. A long time coming, it has brought little comfort to the survivors and their supporters.
There is no denying the inhumane, cruel treatment and squalid conditions which were the daily reality of these institutions, and their unthinkable consequences. Yet it’s impossible also to ignore the thread of context that weaves its way through both the Commission of Investigation’s report and Martin’s acknowledgement of the role played by the state and church: a disregard for women’s rights was and is an issue globally; Ireland in the early 20th century was a harsh, unforgiving environment for all of its residents; the path that led the women to the homes began with blame, rejection and abandonment by their families and communities.
The priest, doctor and nun may loom large; unforgettable also are the boyfriends who disappeared when they were most needed, the father who beat his pregnant daughter, the mother’s disdainful rejection, the schoolfriends who turned their backs. As is so often the case, those close to us can inflict the most hurt and one wonders if these personal wounds form the bedrock of the survivors’ trauma. The public apology has come through but in all but a handful of cases it is too late for the private apologies so dearly needed to heal.
The message we hear is that those that ran, oversaw and funded the homes were components of a larger dysfunctional system, one which was supported and sustained by the Irish people. And while it may be tempting to lay the blame in its entirety on a faceless state and church by focussing on what the latter did and the former didn’t, that picture is an inaccurate and incomplete depiction of the affair and one which fails to honour the testimony of its survivors.
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