Sent on behalf of Derek Leinster by Niall Meehan, Secretary Bethany Survivors, 00353 87 6428671
For publication
The Ghosts of Bethany Home
Sir,
A group of survivors of the Protestant Bethany Home, their spouses and friends (including public representatives) met in Mount Jerome Cemetery Dublin yesterday (August 28th). We were there to report progress to the ghosts of 219 Bethany children in Mount Jerome, 218 in unmarked graves.
In 2010 we reported to the children the official explanation for their deaths. In 1939 the then Deputy Chief Medical Officer of the state observed in a confidential memo after visiting Bethany Home, “It is well known that illegitimate children are marasmic and delicate”. He then prevented the home from admitting Roman Catholics. ‘Unwanted’ children were expected to die and suffer abuse or neglect separately, that is to say silently (from an official point of view).
We did not have a lot of progress to report yesterday with regard to the Irish state admitting culpability. That is despite considerable support from TDs, senators, MLAs, MEPs, newspapers, TV and radio, north and south. The Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin has wished us well, though he or his representatives were obviously too busy to attend. The same goes for the equally well meaning Presbyterian Church. In their absence one survivor, Victor Stevenson, read a short passage from the Bible, while another, Sydney Herdman, delivered a short prayer. Former Bethany Resident Patrick Anderson McQuoid, Niall Meehan from Griffith College and Gerald Morgan from Trinity College spoke, as did Sean Crow TD and Senator Terry Brennan. My wife Carol was also moved to speak, the first time ever to speak publicly. I said a few words. We were very grateful to Joe Costello TD, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for attending and pledging his continued support, immediately on his return from inspecting refugee camps in Jordan.
Afterwards, we marvelled at the ability of certain formerly Protestant run institutions that were, unlike Bethany Home, admitted to the state redress scheme contributing precisely nothing toward the approximately €6m paid out by the state in compensation to former residents. It may be because during the 1970s these institutions lost their exclusively Protestant character and were effectively taken over by the state. Our misfortune is that Bethany Home closed in 1972. However, former residents from, for example, Miss Carr’s Home and the Smiley’s Home, claimed compensation when they were resident in those homes on precisely the same basis as I and fellow survivors were in Bethany Home. But we are still locked out of official recognition of our institutional existence.
It would spin your head if not a child’s body in its grave.
Yours, etc,
Derek Leinster
Chairperson, Bethany Home Survivors
42, Southey Road, Rugby, Warwickshire CV22 6HF, England, www.derekleinster.com
I believe your right there but how many children were there in that place at any time . its a lot of deaths poor little ones. all the abuse happens because societys dont take any real interest after thay make laws.the jobs are filled thats all that matters. if the job is filled by someone totally unsuitable like religous fanatics thay take a holiday.but thay make a good living out of all this.
Hello All
I must say I am confused by this post.
Mortality in Ireland in 1960 was approximately 1 in 100 for 0-14 year olds. About the the 218 unmarked graves, then we would expect a group of 21800 inmates to match for 14 years. But surely the Bethany homes did not cater for this extent.
When I was a boy, I witnessed a another boy of about 9,being raped and beaten cranially in special ways by 2 priests t. A few hours later his body was removed by xxx doctor and nurse, I had gone to him earlier but he was limp, dead, as far as I could tell. The priests involved still in service in Ireland today, faces washed, back from abroad.One on lesser charges at the moment, likely to get off. Whats new.
Of course, I went to great lengths to investigate and report this some years ago but was not taken seriously. In looking through the deaths registers, its patently obvious that very few young children die in young years and that young death is exceptional even going back to the 40’s. The boys parents may have been faced with a certificate reading “Death by natural causes”.
About the 218 young lads and girls. The number of unmarked graves appears to indicate a large number of murders, an act of genocide.
I DONT GET IT, 200 plus children in excess of the national mortality rate. Starvation, Trauma, Abuse and neglect. Murder is murder. Recently, police in the UK reopened a case of murder from 1911.
Who speaks for those children.
Who speaks for the little boy in Tipperary in 1973. I do, I saw, I know. Nobody wants to know, Records destroyed.
Organised society has a duty to investigate and take seriously murder especially on the most vulnerable and especially at a genocidal level.
Genocide must never be confined to a storm in a teacup in the past.
RB
Derek Leinster (author of above letter) wrote:-
“But we are still locked out of official recognition of our institutional existence.”
If you want “official recognition” from the Irish State (govt), you’re going to have to convert to Roman Catholicism. After all, that’s how we Irish got our “Independence” …
btw, I’m Irish and I love the country of my birth, but I ain’t no “Nationalist” – fuck that for a “Game of Christian Soldiers”. lol !!!
What kind of sucessive governments allow these situations to carry on for so long. For years in such a small country things were being done as if we werent in the same world as others. What makes these people start bullying others into submission whats it for. religion is a good excuse but its not the reason. There is also the ledgend in all courts that its because the abuser was abused. its no excuse and i dont believe that its true. i am sure that many are very sensetive to pain in others and try to avoid hurting.
Independence how are ya. This is a sewer posing as a Nation.