Sally Mulready’s life began in a children’s institution in 1950s Ireland, followed by emigration and involvement in some of the biggest campaigns of the past two decades. Now she’s on the Council of State, writes MARK HENNESSY , London Editor
ENTERING THE WARMTH of Sally Mulready’s home in Hackney, in northeast London, on a bitterly cold day, you are greeted by echoes of Ireland: the sound of Pat Kenny’s radio show, and The Irish Times and Irish Independent on the dining-room table. Bridie the cat comes to investigate.
On the day we meet, Mulready is preparing to leave for Dublin, for the first meeting of President Michael D Higgins’s Council of State, at Áras an Uachtaráin – followed, sadly, by the funeral of Mary Raftery, the journalist who helped reveal the scandal of Ireland’s children’s institutions.
Raftery’s death is especially poignant, as the broadcast of her documentary series States of Fear , in 1999, changed Mulready’s life, propelling her on a decade-long campaign to help abuse victims who had fled Ireland for Britain, and many of whom had never found peace.
Mulready herself knows something about the institutions. Born in 1950, she spent her first four years in the mother-and-babies home on Navan Road in Dublin with her mother, Sheila, before the two were separated, in accordance with the rules of the time, when Mulready was four.
Her mother went to England. Mulready went to an orphanage elsewhere in Dublin – “a benign, beautiful place on the Kilmacud Road in Stillorgan” – though at the age of nine her life changed once more with her transfer to St Mary’s Industrial School, in Sandymount.
“That was a completely different kind of institution, a big melting pot of children, from orphans to children sent there by the courts, children who were suddenly bereaved. It was a very, very wild place, [but] it wasn’t vicious.”
Fifty years on, she still keeps in occasional touch with one of the nuns. “I am 60. How old was she when she was looking after me? We had no sense of them being anything other than nuns. We never saw them as human beings, with feelings.”
Even while at St Mary’s, Mulready knew that boys in other institutions were being physically abused. It was not until Raftery’s investigation was broadcast that she understood about sexual abuse, “although it came as no surprise to me”.
The suffering was visible at Christmas, when the children held in the institutions were brought together for charity evenings at the Savoy – hosted, separately, by Cadbury and CIÉ – where they were encouraged “to stuff our faces with chocolate” and sing Christmas songs.
“I saw even then the absolute hardship and suffering of young boys. They had it in their faces. They were very subdued; they never smiled,” she says, adding that the St Mary’s children were “more assertive; we weren’t afraid”.
Decades later, having watched States of Fear , Mulready, by then secretary of the Federation of Irish Societies, knew that something had to be done in Britain, because there “was very little reference to the possibility that there were survivors outside of Ireland”.
Before States of Fear , two small groups of men had begun to gather separately in Coventry and Sheffield to talk among themselves about their experiences. But the programme opened the floodgates.
Mulready travelled Britain, briefing survivors on the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, which was set up in Ireland in 2000, and the later Residential Institutions Redress Board, which dealt with financial compensation. “A meeting that started at one o’clock would still be going on at six. People would just stand up and preface what they had to say by saying, ‘I’m telling this for the first time: I have never told a soul this.’ We heard testimonial after testimonial after testimonial.”
Unlike some former inmates of the industrial schools in Britain, Mulready accepts that the redress board “did its best with the evidence it had”. Most of those who went before it – she did not go before it – had their cases settled without having to give evidence. “Had we all been marched into court it would have taken us all eight to nine years to have our cases heard. Very few of us would have been able to produce any witnesses to the assaults. The people we were accusing were dead,” she says.
She is bitterly critical of the religious orders, however. “They have delivered less than a quarter of the promised funding, and Ruairí Quinn is having one hell of a battle to try to get more resources out of them.”
Today, Mulready, a British Labour Party councillor, is deeply involved in the fight for recognition by some of the 30,000 women who were held in the church-run Magdalen laundries, who were denied the right to seek compensation from the redress board.
Mulready was an experienced campaigner by the time States of Fear emerged, having supported the miners’ strike in Britain in 1984, the Birmingham Six release campaign, and efforts to get the Irish government to fund organisations working with vulnerable Irish emigrants.
In the early 1990s, the decayed bodies of a succession of elderly Irishmen were found dead in their flats in Camden – months and years after their lonely, ignored deaths – prompting demands for action.
In 1994, the Irish Elderly Advice Network was formed, with Mulready at its head and a budget of just £9,000 (€10,800). To date it has helped 4,000 vulnerable Irish people, aiding them, among other ways by securing millions in unclaimed welfare and pensions benefits.
Before the network was set up, she wrote to the Department of Foreign Affairs, in Dublin, seeking funds. She got a letter back saying the group was not a priority at the time. “I was absolutely astonished, but it actually put a bit of fight in me. “I said, ‘I’m not accepting this.’ This is the community that sent money back home in remittances, that had kept Irish families off their knees – brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers – through the money that they sent home every week in cash in envelopes.” Two years later, after campaigning by Mulready, the Federation of Irish Societies under Seamus McGarry, and the Council of Irish Counties, among others, funding arrived from Dublin and it has kept coming.
THE 1990s MARKED a sea change in the way Ireland looked on its emigrants, spurred on by documentaries that highlighted the squalidness that some endured.
Equally, the Irish Embassy started to change. “I have been here for 40 years, and it wasn’t until Ted Barrington came [as ambassador, in 1995] that I ever got an invitation to the Embassy. The Irish Embassy was some sort of remote place that well-to-do people in the community went to. Those with influence congregated around the Irish Embassy and the Irish Club in Eaton Square, and the rest of us did our socialising in the Irish Centre in Camden and in the pubs around Camden, Brent, Ealing, all those places.”
Like other Irish emigrants of the 1960s, Mulready remembers having to be most wary of one’s own people. “It was absolutely dreadful; I remember that myself. I came here in 1966 looking for accommodation, and like lots of people we were living in rooms. An awful lot of the landlords were Irish, and they were just downright exploitative, unpleasant, bossy,” she says, adding that her grandmother always used to say, “Strangers are better to you than your own.”
Mulready did benefit from the kindness of strangers, when she worked first in a laundry and in the London Electricity Board. “I was taken care of, looked after, my interests protected . . . They were all Londoners, old-fashioned, from Hackney.”
With just a primary education from St Mary’s, Mulready went back to school for a day a week, earning an A-Level and, later, “the whole Educating Rita bit”, achieving a degree in history.
“For the first five years of my life here I didn’t mix that much with Irish people. I went to the odd dance in the Gresham ballroom, on Holloway Road. But I found the Irish community difficult,” she says, referring to sexism and cliquishness.
Today, she says, “the Irish community is better, stronger, more caring than it ever was, and much more connected . . . but there are still hard-core sections of the Irish community, not just single Irishmen, who need help.”
Most new emigrants are better educated and more confident than their predecessors, “but not all of them are educated and competent. There are going to be a lot of really vulnerable people, feeling really rejected and disappointed, who are not leaving of their free will.”
The place on the Council of State offers a platform, but Mulready is not yet sure quite what she can do with it. “It means an awful lot. It is a terrific honour for me and my family. I have to pinch myself constantly and ask, ‘Is it really me?’ I don’t come from the normal classes on whom an honour of this sort is usually bestowed. It means an awful lot to the Irish community, too.”
The proposed Constitutional Convention offers the Irish in Britain the chance to be heard, she says, particularly on the right to vote in some elections, although she says she has not made up her mind on the issue. “I think we have to have a dialogue about what we mean about votes for the Irish. I have been here 40 years; I pay my taxes in this country; I am fully settled,” she says, adding, “My family is here; my whole life is here.
“I never wanted to leave Ireland, but, ironically, I regard it as the best thing I ever did. I wouldn’t have had any of those doors open for me. I believe that if I went back tomorrow they probably still wouldn’t be open to me.”
But now she must rush for her flight. The President is waiting.
Curriculum Vitae
Name Sally Mulready
Age 60
Born Dublin
Why is she in the news? President Michael D Higgins has appointed her to the Council of State
What does she do? She’s a British Labour Party councillor and head of the Irish Elderly Advice Network, which has helped 4,000 vulnerable Irish in Britain. She has also campaigned on behalf of abuse victims, the Birmingham Six and, more recently, those who were held in the Magdalen laundries, who have so far been denied compensation by the State
You are most welcome Catherine, and that is for sure no one forgets as it is their makeup.
You know yourself after all the work Mary did for survivors and the hard truth she published even to this very day The Government are selling the bull to the public that they are doing their best for survivors.
The sad thing is though Catherine all except the good people on these sites are just not airing their views.
There is so much that the government Religious and groups did not do to support survivors that it out weighs the crumbs on the table for orphans
One good reason we will miss Mary is the truth that now we have so little publicity on how survivors are being treated today, the very same people who as children suffered the prison schools the news is unfinished, leaves one to ask who could be trusted to step in Mary’s shoes and take up the unfinished news? We need answers to the past present and future.
It would take someone with the strength, boldness, honesty, trust, and determination of Mary to take up this on going news, could there ever be such a person?
Thanks Robert I can relate to the video’s no one ever forgets their lives in Industrial School’s.
An open message to Mr. Michael Walsh, you know what has been going on with my situation and the many problems I have that need answering and conclusions, you have my phone number my address and so on please come and prove you have my interests in heart and stop writing about your webpage and the information on it.
Ever since you have taken over the office at the Right of place these issues you have been fully aware of. Your worker Ann Marie tried to do things for us but her hands are tied and you r office think i am the only one who seems to be having problems with the community welfare officer, WRONG,so many people are. once again it is aas if the survivor is to blame just because you cannot be bother to face the HSE THE GOVERNMENT THE RELIGIOUS .
MY FAMILY HAS HAD NO SUPPORT NO SUPPORT AT ALL JUST LETTERS FROM ANN MARIE. IT IS EASY TO LOOK AFTER THOSE ON YOUR DOORSTEP BUT YOU DO NOT VISIT ANY SURVIVORS IN REMOTE AREAS TO SEE FOR YOURSELF.
Job titles there is no room for in this office of true support, I have good friends who work hard for charities they are and were great directors of companies to top barristers yet they get their hands dirty and act on their beliefs they say and believe if you work for something you believe in you do it as a person not as a title.
Hey Paddy or anyone I just thought of something that may be of great concern for all survivors.
You know the redress for survivors was supposed to be tax free? well I do believe that considering the survivors could not spend their redress all at once so they must have invested or just put their money into a bank for safe keeping, this is so obvious, the problem here is that you have to pay tax on transactions, so every time a survivors would do a transaction just to use their redress they would have to pay tax on it.
Even though the Government said yes you have to pay tax if you make a profit on that redress if it makes the money, I still think this is a cheek as it is free from tax or not at all?.
I believe this is an other area where Groups have let down survivors, they must have paid a fortune in a lot of transactions using a little at a time.
Again the vulnerability neglected unprotected just because these Groups have had no clue no qualifications, no experiences no idea on what was needed to protect survivors.
What do others think on this matter?
this does need attention and asap as a lot of survivors have spent their redress.
This is another way of taking back the redress by the guilty party just as the welfare issues.
If there is nothing survivors can do then this redress was to be TAXED something never brought forward, again the Government get more back than a fifty fifty deal. I just wonder what the full percentage was made from each survivor if one tots up all the transactions on the handling fees of the banks and the Government.
No matter what way one looks at this the guilty party has and is making money back that would pay towards their stupid claim of 50% towards redress costs.
Thanks Robert for bringing the above 3 links to our attention.
As for Sally: no better woman to serve her peers. And no better man than our President Michael D to help her there.
These vidios give an honest discription of the conditions in the institutions. there is no over doing it . Its clear. thanks. I am glad i have seen them .
http://www.education.ie/admin/servlet/blobservlet/riru_residential_institutions_statutory_fund_bill_june_2011.pdf?language=EN&igstat=true
General Scheme of a Residential Institutions
Statutory Fund Bill, 2011
WELL WORTH READING AND COMPETING ON
Some videos I came across on the net
http://vimeo.com/16699089
http://vimeo.com/16065362
So very well put Angry.
Maybe now we can get proper treatment for survivors like HEALTH AND DENTAL CARE, why should pay or do without yet again?
If the Groups cared anything at all about the welfare of Survivors, Health and dental treatment would have been first on the agenda set aside from useless funds that run out in the space of a few years.
Survivors dental and health problems were abused in the first place, how shocking these Groups have not fought for these vital services in the beginning and yet again in these budget cuts where only two filling are allowed, most survivors have no teeth to chew with.
I am so appalled and disgusted with the sheer lack of support for these two issues alone.
The very least this Government can do, I bet they claim dental care expenses and I bet these expenses cost a sight more than it would do for survivors of their abuse.
David , I feel disgusted by the insidious comments levelled at you.
Kind Regards …..Angry.
BEGRUDGERS-0…….. Sally Mulready…10….
Having read Paddy`s site, thats how I see it.
Firstly, and without predjudice, I must say that I have come to know Sally Mulready well. Over the years I have watched, read and listened to various “group leaders” as they went about the vile business of filling their pockets to the exclusion of survivors interests and representation, I say “representation” in the lightest sense as the whole sorry bunch of them were “chosen” on the basis of being intellectually challenged and would serve the State and religious well in spreading confusion and chaos among so many thousands of survivors, this aim, unfortunately was achived, myself included being conned for many years by a so called “group leader”.
Sally Mulready`s track record in her humanitarian campaigning over many years surely earmarked her as the natural choice as the “must have” asset by the President to lend gravitas and credence to his chosen Council of State if the remaining survivors worldwide were to have a voice in Ireland. Several thousand live here in the UK and many more scattered around the Globe.
The choice of Sally Mulready will now ensure that the Magdalene women and girls will get the representation they so rightly deserve.
I can only wish Sally well in her quest to purposefully, and genuinely take our concerns to the Presidents table and hopefully our main objective to get rid of these so called “group leaders” will be quickly achived.
I hope you do not mind me mentioning Paddy, I have as you are aware started a new webpage on behalf of survivors, inspired by your good self and the Shame of ireland.
It is not easy but I feel the more we have out there the more people would get to see our cause. thanks Paddy again
http://industrialschools.wordpress.com/
I am trying to learn here so please bare with me folks it is not easy but heck I am trying
What has family tracing got to do with it . after so many years it seems strange that thay still use the services of professionels. after all this time most of us have found them through other members of the same family. many still missing wont want bernardos finding them now. its true that our problems for all are about health. Thay offer pastimes for a few. And moralty lessons to survivers or unslaved. Independence to look after ourselves is what we need at this stage of our lives. None of us seem to get much old age pension.
You know Catherine I wish a lot more good people like your self would write on here so we know and show how survivors are and what is concerning them health wise, as there is nothing as far as i know set up for survivors.
They say the Staturary fund is now to cover the previous funds, education, counseling, family tracing, but health of survivors is never mentioned until now.
Now I know medical cards covered everything but certain health/ dental problems survivors are suffering are not of their own neglect but of the very same neglect of our childhood, if the government/religious/groups cared at all about what they allowed to happen to our health they would have put in the bill on cuts that these cuts in health will not effect survivors and write it in black and white.
Once more if the Groups were doing their jobs they would be keeping an eye on the news about these cuts and fight for the rights of survivors who have suffered health wise.
But obviously there is no such thing as support here just a leader saying how wonderful his group is and wants us to be members.
How or why would we want to be members of a group that claims to be professional yet have NEVER PUT THE HEALTH OF SURVIVORS FIRST?
They want us to read their site and leave comments, yet it is so obvious survivors health is suffering.
Being a member of such a group has not gained anything but cost the survivor a great deal, especially the very vulnerable and sick.
MY MESSAGE to ALL GROUPS IS IF YOU CALL YOURSELVES “PROFESSIONAL” THEN GET WITH IT, AS YOU MUST HAVE KNOWN THE BUGET AND WHAT IT WAS CUTTING REGARDING HEALTH AND THAT THIS WOULD BE EFFECTING SURVIVORS,
You say that information is on your site about things but that is only aimed on promotion for your office, BUT NOTHING about the cuts to health regarding the budget, and how you are fighting for the support needed for survivors who suffer with health and dental problems.
SO STOP PATTING YOURSELVES ON THE BACK FOR BEING SO ARROGANT AND FIGHT FOR THE HEALTH OF SURVIVORS NOW, YOU SHOULD BE DOING THIS AUTOMATICALLY AS IT IS PLAIN OBVIOUS WE ARE SUFFERING.
BY NOT DOING YOUR JOB ***(((PRESENTING THESE PROBLEMS TO THE GOVERNMENT/RELIGIOUS)))***
YOU CANNOT NOT CLAIM TO BE RE- ***(((PRESENTING US SURVIVORS)))***.
THE OBVIOUS IS STARING YOU IN THE FACE FOR YEARS.
HEALTH HEALTH HEALTH IS HEALING, GOT THE MESSAGE GROUPS?
((( YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE REPRESENTING US NOT US REPRESENTING YOU))).
you are a member of us not us of you we all have voices not just you GROUP
GET THE JOB DONE.
FREE HEALTH AND DENTAL CARE ,FOR ALL SURVIVORS WHO SUFFERED. THEIR HEALTH IS AT RISK AFTER BEING NEGLECTED FOR THE SECOND TIME AROUND DUE TO NO PROPER SUPPORT REGARDING HEALTH AND DENTAL CARE.
We are fortunate to have such wonderful people like Mary, Sally, Paddy, and many more, one thing for sure all Survivors/Witnesses are such remarkable people the fact we have survived to date.
CONGRATULATIONS SALLY.
SEANIE
Sally, delighted to see your going to serve on the Council of State, and would like to join the many folk here on Paddys site in wishing you well in your role, i have every faith in your never ending fight for fair play ,not only for all Survivors, but especially the Magdalene Ladie’s who have every right to be addressed for the sad and hard lives they endured under the Religious.
Sally ,reading of your life to date, i was struck by the fact that i was married to a Lady who went through some of the same experiences as your good self. Her life began in the same Mother and Baby home on the Naven rd, and was also abandoned there. Later on in life , She also spent some time at the same Convent in stillorgan, and often remarked to me that it was a nice place, most of the Nuns were nice, with a few not so nice, and on reaching 16, was allowed out to do domestic service for a few well to do Familys in the Blackrock and Stillorgan areas, and then was sent down to a farming Family in Co Wexford, where She experienced much suffering, abuse and neglect, and ended up back in Stillorgan with the Nuns, and i managed to get her away from that life. Later getting married, and Divorced 10 years later. Sadly the fault in many ways down to me, and to this day i still regret, but the bottom line is that as i was also suffering from my past , which was having experienced abuse at an institution in Co Cork, and various other reasons to do with my childhood, the fact is from our history, we were not properly qualifed in many ways to be good parents, sadly lacking in our respective ways. But we both went on to marry again after we went our seperate ways, and to date have learned to be strong survivors and life is better for us.
What comes out of this ,for me , is that i still hold a candle for her, and have always been impressed that despite her background, She found great determination, like your good self, to survive and improve.
But it took us to the UK to find many answers, and help us sort out our live’s, much like your story Sally, that is my reason for sharing it with you.
Sally, Paddy , thank you for being here for us all, your strenght keeps us going,
Keep strong,
Jimmy
I agree with Sally . Because these women were enslaved. Thay lost thier children any any chance to have thier own lives. As long as this lasts thay will not feel entirely safe. And it needs to be addressed soon.We all suffered in this crazy system.We do have to join together. We all have our memories. in far away places this can continue with other children and other young women.its a plague.
By the way the above is NOT addressed to anyone in person but to us all myself included, we have to have UNITY We all need to get together in dublin as one voice to make sure we are heard and understood.
Unfortunately a lot of survivors/witnesses of abuse cannot use a computer nor will they even look at one so please there is work to do if we need to be ONE VOICE, help our fellow SURVIVORS/WITNESSES of this abuse together we are so strong alone we are weak.
This time I quote Paddy Doyle, it will always stick in my brain when I say all this and that is.
NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US ( or to that affect )
Paddy in respect to your good self your site does represent so many survivors, it is hard work and I for one know how hard it is to even try to open a site.
You have allowed so much to be expressed and most of us if not all I would say you have done the best yet.
Lets hope the best is yet to come where survivors of Industrial Schools and the Magdalene Laundries pull back from each individuals and fight the same cause, we all need each other, those who have done us wrong will only use such arguments against us.
Unity is what is needed more today than anytime before.
We need to point in only three directions The Government, The Religious, and The Groups who claim to represent those who suffered a great deal.
People we need to sort this whole issue out together there is no room for getting personal at each other and lets be grateful for the hard work here on Paddy’s site where we at least of all have our views on the disgusting treatment thus far.
I am sure no one wants to fight each other, we have one goal that is JUSTIC ONCE AND FOR ALL as the old saying goes, and I quote/
ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL.
Thanks for the kind comment about my patience. Believe me there have been times recently when I’ve just wanted to scrap this website such is the level of abuse coming at me. I can do without it. What keeps me going are nice comments like the opening few words of your post. Once again, thanks. Paddy
Congratulations Sally wishing you all the best.
Paddy, you have unending patience, oh noble moderator! And David, I echo Sally’s sentiments: you tried in a dignified, respectful manner and that’s all that can be said. I must say though, as a husband championing his wife’s cause, you could not ask for a more loyal fighter than Albert. Would that we all had partners so committed. I understand his concern with the ten identified laundries and we hope that will be expanded to include facilities that ran connected to other institutions and mother-baby homes. And as frustrating as that may be, as Sally points out, the Magdalenes have seen NOTHING to date. So let’s start there and work on further identifying, documenting and redressing other institutions where women peformed arduous labour for no pay, and/or were abused. I think we can all agree with that.
Now that’s enough to put the fear of God into anyone. For my own part, I mean what I say and say what I mean! As reassurance Mr. King, all your comments have been removed except for the one above where you ‘shout’ “I SAY AGAIN I MEAN WHAT I SAY”. That will remain a constant reminder to me and perhaps to others users of what appear to me as nasty tactics. You’ve used my website to promote your own views which, incidentally were always welcomed and posted. Alas, as you requested that all your comments be removed (which I’ve done, consuming a lot of my time) and as you’ve expressed the desire to have nothing more to do with this website. I won’t even see comments from you as your IP address has been blocked. I trust this satisfies you. Best wishes. Paddy
Mr Albert King has threatened me and asked that all his comments be removed from this website. No further comments from Mr. King will be posted. Paddy
Paddy, I SAY AGAIN I MEAN WHAT I SAY.
With regard to your comments directed to Albert. He has informed me that he will not be making any more contributions to this website. He has further requested that I remove all comments made by him on my website. Albert has posted many comments and I don’t have the time or the resources to delete them. Paddy.
David
My wise and good friend who teaches us all how to walk away from trivia.
thanks David for your kind and generous words. I think you are so important in the ongoing debate about the future support such as it may be.
Did yohu happen to read my piece posted a day or so ago expressing concern about people being excluded from the new trust board because they did not apply to the redress board…madness.
Anyway apart from that Im due in Derby soon for a conference hope to catch up with you.
to albert
Albert the decision to name just ten institutions as the magdalen laundries is an issue and it is only right it is raised BUT you need to raise this with the Minister .
The fact is that the women involved in the Magdalen laundries so called are being distinguished from the convents we were all in .
They were convents for girls of all ages that had a laundry attached but were not as such Magdalen laundries.
We cannot do anything about this. Your wife was not in a Magdalen laundry, she was (as I was and many of us) in a convent with a laundry attached. I was as I am sure she was entitled to redress compensation . the madgalen laundries women were not and are still not entitled to compensation from redress.
It is for them we are fighting. They have had NOTHING. We have all had redress even if it was pathetic, limited and insulting. the Madgalen laundry women have had nothing.
I think that most reasonable people would say we have to look after the Magdalen laundry women first.
Your right Albert. Your comments have been thrashed as will others of the same tone. Insults such as those you expect to be posted on my website will be relegated to the Thrash. Paddy
Forget it Albert, I can’t be bothered with your picking on everything I say. You even pointed out a comment I made on another post regarding nominating Paddy for Freedom of the City.’ I don’t know what that was about or what you were trying to infer. I shall continue to contribute to this wonderful site but I shall not be making any comments that you might direct at me. Can’t be doing with it. Sorry Paddy about my little outburst but I really don’t know what Alberts problem is.
David (UK) As you may well appreciate I am a little puzzled because there appears to be a mix up in your comments with the words (resolve and resolved).
I meant to put at the end of my last post ‘on going concerns (whatever the may be) have not been solved and not resolved.
Sally I wish you the very best of good health and am sure you will be doing your best take care and warmest respect Robert
Just in case others may need to read :-http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/film-cinema/the-stolen-children-2595473.html
Yes Albert, I am very well aware of all that you have mentioned in your last post. Many survivors are relatively old now and it is a shame that their on going concerns (whatever they may be) have not been resolved.
David (UK) with respect I am sure you will understand that the majority of victims of institutional child abuse still have on going concerns and issues in relation to the Redress Board, the Ryan Commission, the Education Finance Board, the so-called Statutory Fund and the Religious Orders assets that need to be resolved.
Thanks pauline for your response.
We hope Mr. Alan Shatter, the Minister for Justice and Equality will support my wife’s submission in relation to working in a laundry as a child without an education or pay because its only right and just that the aforementioned should be included in its report to the UN Committee.
Furthermore, this will hopefully open the doors for many other people who were in the same position. Keep Strong.
Thanks albert for answering my question. when i left Ireland i dident know how wide spread this industry was. I knew of artane and thats all . I knew there were orphanages of course. it seems to get deeper and deeper into a sectet worldWe in goldenbridge dident even know our own brothers for some reason.thay really had filthy minds.Its this life that we have to live not after our deaths. These women and children who washed and irned were never treated as humans of the same value as others.
Nome De Guerre summed up very well how many of us feel. If I was lucky enough to meet the President, Michael D Higgins, I would shake his hand and say, “Well done Mr President, an excellent choice of Sally Mulready to be one of your seven appointees to the Council of State.’ I couldn’t think of anyone better, and who is also a committed person, to be on the Council of State. Sally will not let the President down. I would also like to add my Congratulations to Sally.
God Bless You Sally and Keep Up the Good Work.
Sally , congratulations to your appointment to the Council of State . i salute your passion for justice for the Magdalene women. You have my respect and admiration for doing this work and for being what you are . No doubt you will succeed and put right these historical wrongs . Ireland has been late in confronting its past , all too many people have turned their eyes away in fear. It was not only we boys who’s faces reflected defeat and terror . Our whole country existed on fear . Fear was the very essence of its being . The basic message of Christianity , that of love and liberation was drowned in a state financed network of industrial schools , laundries , mental hospitals , mother and babies homes administered by clerical terrorists who’s utopia was and is on par with the Taliban . Sally ! just a footnote , I smiled the other day when I read you had taken your place on the Council of State . That smile was a long time coming . It is never too late for a happy childhood . Keep it coming .
dont let the industriel schools be buried under the rest .
You know sally many of us had familys who wanted to care for us but we were taken to courts as babies. toddles in the care of policewomen. this part of the history of the irish government in those days not so far away at all.a lot of abuse went on thats clear but that the irish courts took part in this shows how it was ruled by an inhuman mashine.
If something doesn’t seem right to me, I have as much right to question it or pass comment on it as the next person.
I’m not interested in getting in to a slagging match with other survivors but please do not tell me that I do not have the right to question something I read in The Irish Times, a national newspaper.
pauline, In answer to your question: My wife was sent to an industrial school as a child via the court system and it had a laundry attached.
However, the nuns who run the laundry exploited my wife as a child to work in that laundry without an education or pay.
Furthermore,the 4 orders of nuns do not dispute that lots of other institutions had laundries attached and/or that women/girls/children worked in those laundries.
Its for this reason I have brought these laundries
to the attention of Mr.Alan Shatter, the Minister for Justice and Equality to include these laundries in its report to the UN Committee.
Sally has done invaluable work and we truly look forward to the even greater good she can do in her new role. As regards her comments quoted in the Times, I can only echo what Sally herself said: they are her recollections, told in her words. No one has the right to dispute her experience. Each survivor’s story is their own and they don’t all neatly fit into one box. I, for one, am honored to work alongside her on the Magdalene campaign and could not ask for a more stalwart colleague.
Thanks christina. i dont feel odd on here but i have been told so many times that i am odd that it just might be true. But it doesnt bother me anymore as I am at an age that suits me. i can be as odd as anything i dont care anymore. Albert what are these institutions you are talking about. I have only heard of the magdelaine homes. Were people sent there from the courts too.!!!!
Paddy, as previously mentioned lets not forget that lots of other institutions had laundries attached and/or that woman/girls/children worked in those laundries.
Furthermore, I have brought the Factories Act 1955 section 84 to the attention of Mr. Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice and Equality for his attention in relation to these matters.
Pauline, you are not odd at all. You have been hurt and left to live with what they left of you. That does not make you odd (or any other survivor for that matter). It is apparent from reading your comments on this page and on other subjects, that you feel very strongly about the issues raised and it is evident that you bring great insight to the discussions.
thanks Christina and thanks Pauline . I will do my very best in my new role. Its a great honour and I will always speak up for survivors . In the same week I was in Dublin to meet the President I also enquired from Education Dept on progress of the Trust Fund as you will have read from my previous comments- progress is frustratingly slow and I also established further that the investyigation into the State role in the running of the Laundries should be concluded by the Summer . So that is where I am going, that is where I am focused right now.
and
Paddy if you would agree can I also remind women survivors who live in or near London the next meeting of the Womens group is on first Saturday of Feb 4th at 12 noon at NEW VENUE CORRIB REST SALISBURY ROAD – TURN RIGHT OUT OF QUEENS PARK TUBE STATION AND WALK FOR 5-6 MINUTES ON THE SAME ROAD AS TUBE AND YOU WILL HIT THE CORRIB RREST.
VENUE IS ACCESSABLE TO ALL.
If you need to Contact Phyllis Morgan Tel 02-07 267 9997 for detail.
Sadly many started life in the institutions. It would be differcult to judge when thats all the experience of childhood thay have.I was a mother when i started to realise that my childhood had disabled me for life in many small things. When i first went into a tea shop i was so intimidated that i fainted from fright. we are all a bit odd.
“as posted by Paddy” Just to clarify, I copied and pasted the article directly from The Irish Times to my website.
Re. the above, I did read carefully Sally’s comments in the Irish Times (as posted by Paddy) and it quotes her as saying that the place was a very wild place, but it was not ‘vicious’. My earlier comments were based on that article.
Sally states in her ‘comment’ to the site that she was physically assaulted by a priest and lay staff on many occasions and caned by nuns. I would consider that a ‘vicious’ environment.
A young girl being viciously beaten feels the same amount of pain as a boy being viciously beaten and it deserves the same level of outrage. There are three women writing on this page who were badly beaten while in care. I’ll leave that at that.
In my time, there was nothing like 200 children being looked after by one nun. Perhaps the nun looking after Sally was nice or maybe she was just too exhausted from having so many to look after.
Maybe there are good nuns out there, somewhere, it is my experience that I have never met one.
I wish Sally well in her new appointment and from her comment I’ve learned that the Irist Times piece was not a very thorough portrayal of her life in an institution but I stand by what I said.
Paddy
Thanks for posting the piece about me in the Irish Times- thanks for taking the trouble.
Through you can I say a huge thanks to everyone who contacted me and wished me well in my new role. I appreciate this very much.
In response to some comments on your site, can I say this, everyone has their own thoughts and recollections of what happened to them as children in these institutions.
I did not say abuse did not take place, in fact if you read my comments in the Irish Times piece on what happened to young children especially to boys , I recalled in the Irish Times piece my memories of seeing young children – who were clearly suffering and very unhappy and afraid.
I remember seeing this as early as 9 years old when most of you will remember we were taken out to a Christmas Party at the Savoy and another Party at the CIE Bus garage in Dublin. We were fed sweets, chocs etc and at these events in dublin-the various Dublin based institutions brought kids along to the Savoy and I recall distinctly how sad and battered young boys looked.
It made me as sad and angry then as it does to this day, hearing of their experiences at the hands of Christian brothers and children who were disabled being abused and assaulted in orthopaedic hospitals for children. You only have to re read (as I often do) the God Squad to remember again the barbarity of it all.
Fom my own experience of one of the institutions I was in , that though it was wild, it was not vicious- I am speaking of my own truth, my own experience . We were wild , out of control , with just one nun and one lay person often minding’ 200 young children and teenagers and no one cared.
I respect the absolute right of all survivors to speak as they find of their own experience. I was physically assaulted on more then one occasion by a priest who was an habitually violent man- now dead . I was frequently assaulted by lay staff, I had the cane many a time from teaching nuns, but that was the extent of it for me. Of course it was wrong, it was brutal to hit any child and my comments don’t demean that truth either.
I hope people can accept my truth as I will theirs.
What is more important now is that we move on and fight for justice for the women who were locked up in these commercial laundries and the best years of their lives taken away. I am optimistic that we will see progress on this hopefully by the Summer- and the greatest tribute to Mary Raftery we can pay her is to keep on fighting until justice is done for the last few remaining women who were in these laundries.
Phyllis Morgan and myself have made submissions to the Investigation headed up by Senator Martin Mc Aleese based on the evidence provided to us by 30 women locked up in the ten Laundries identified by the Investigation committee. That is where at this moment time my efforts and energies are going. I am determined that these women still alive will see justice.
In regard to the Statutory Trust Fund- it is absolutely frustrating to see that another year has passed and there is no conclusion yet to this matter. The delay is causing a lot of confusion and hardship and many people who could benefit from the new Trust Fund are missing out.
I understand that the Bill (Act of Parliament) is still being drafted
And it appears that all our appeals not to exclude those who did not apply to the Redress Board for whatever reason will not be included. I think this is a big mistake and will cause real disappointment to those of us who fought so hard to have them included.
I think people should again make representation and write to Minister Quinn asking him not to exclude Survivors in this way. It is also the case that the Education Trust functions will transfer to the new Trust Board but applications are going to be restricted to Survivors only. Another disappointment since 73% of all education grants have gone to our children and grandchildren -it is clear that Survivors felt this was a better use of the Education Scheme.
Once again Paddy thanks for the chance to state my views in your site. Long may it last?
Sally
I saw the nuns as big frightening monsters. I thought at first that I hade gone into another land. I did not know really that thay were women born like us. but you know for the rotten apples well the rotten ones were sent to the industriel schools in ireland. the others all tainted by them were sent abroad to spread thier power. the anger and frustration caused by this made them violent. thay all wanted to go abroad.Growing up in this atmosphere was awfull. Whats normal for us whenever i hear or see my number i react to it inside me and outside me too.There is no second chance at childhood.memories are not chosen.
HI One and all, it seems god closed one door to us survivors, when he took Mary Raftery from us,R.I.P. Mary. but we hope very quickly opened another . May he give SALLY the added strenght to carry on the good work and continue to support us in getting true recognition for what we endured as children in these institutions.Wishing her every success
I understand what you are saying Pauline. I have my fingers crossed for Sally but a few of the quotes attributed to Sally just made me a bit wary. The article seemed more about her personal experience and not an accurate portrayal of life in an industrial school.
Sally is quoted as saying ‘we never saw them (nuns) as human beings, with feelings’. I have always viewed the nuns as human beings, not very nice ones but human beings all the same (with immense power). It would be more true to say that if the nuns (and priests) had looked on us as human beings, with feelings, (equal to them), then our lives would have been very different indeed.
Also, any redress system that binds the victim in to a contract of conditions and silence is not justice or redress.
I guess I would feel a lot more positive if it was someone like Colm O’Gorman who had been appointed (I don’t know him and I have never met him but I have heard him speak on the radio).
There were so many industriel schools that in the end most of us dont understand whats what. I know none were easy places to grow up in but its normal that we all think that some were less violent than others.a lot learned to try and seem invisable.its another way of surviving. Sallys work for the Madelaine ladies including her mother is worthy of respect.I hope she will be able to get justice for them as thay are owed years of wages.
(sorry hit submit before I was finished). Just wanted to finish with that I don’t think its possible that the only two rotten apples in the orchard ended up in the place I was unlucky enough to be in. So I would think that Sally’s positive experience is unique among the majority of survivors.
Is Sally honestly saying that she never witnessed (or was subjected to)the ‘vicious’ treatment of a child by a nun or nuns while in the care of St. Mary’s? If so, I find this impossible to believe. In fact I do not believe it. In my experience, while in care, I never met a nun who didn’t beat me and there were two who actually beat me up (one on a regular basis). And these two actually beat up plenty of children.
Congratulations Sally , Carry Marys banner for us all .
Thats terrably sad to hear of these men dying alone in rooms. i saw my did in one and i felt sad because he had a lovely home in ireland. But he worked on the building sites because he had to pay perental moneys.As for the ladies from the laundries. well the church should be ashamed of themselves. Leaving these ladies to look after themselves is criminal neglect. good for Sally to get into the same rooms as the powerfull. good for you strong lady .