A report on the treatment of unwed mothers and their children in government and church-run homes was published in Ireland on Tuesday. In view of this, Prime Minister Michael Martin formally apologized to the state, as well as Bishop Dom Michael Neeri of Tuam.

Half a dozen years ago there was a horrific discovery in the Republic of Ireland: the skeletons of about 800 children were found in the lower part of a convent in Tuam County by the sisters of Bom Sokoro.

The case, which has frightened public opinion in the country and echoed internationally, combined with the results of the investigation by historian Catherine Corles to bring to light the death certificates of 798 children, of which only two were cremation certificates.

The scandal is even bigger as the results of another official official investigation into the homes of Catholic nuns known as “Lavanderius da Madeleine” have been known since last year. At that time, since the 1920s, the conditions of semi-slavery were highlighted for unwed mothers living in those institutions.

In view of the new and even more horrific case, the Government of Ireland decided to set up a Commission of Inquiry, which, in recent years, has conducted an in-depth investigation and has now published its results. This is a volume of over 3,000 pages (there are more than 76 in the abstract text alone) and it comes down to infamous data: Between 1911 and 1998, 9,000 children, known as the Casas Paramas (single), died. ) Children.

The Commission of Inquiry, which considered the particular context of the country in the international context and compiled official personal and private statistics, concluded that it was a “horrible state of infant mortality”.

Through the various institutions in the analysis, there were 56,000 unwed mothers and approximately 57,000 children in maternal and infant homes and county homes investigated by the Commission, and the investigation found that there may have been more than 25,000 unwed mothers and more children in various periodicals, especially in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Commenting on this and other data, the head of the Dublin government, Michelle Martin, head of the Dublin government, a coalition of Christian Democrats and Greens, apologizes for the “horrific abuse” of institutions that have relied on both for most of the twentieth century. Government or church.

This is “a dark, difficult, shameful chapter in our recent history,” Martin added, referring to “a dysfunctional society”, “distorted attitudes”, “abusive treatment of women”, “young mothers”, and “especially children”.

Catholic Church: Shame and shame

The Catholic Church in charge of most households, which welcomed and mistreated unwed mothers and children, generally had a positive attitude toward learning.

The two bishops, located in the northwestern part of the country (Rafo, Derry), issued a joint statement acknowledging the church’s role in the “harsh and irrational” treatment of mothers and children at home. “We are associated with the stories of many pregnant women and girls who, at a time when they needed love and care, were left alone and abandoned, and, moreover, tainted by fear, judgment, and secrecy,” acknowledges the two high priests.

For them, this report is of great service to the survivors, their families, and the community in general, including the church.

The Priest of Ireland, Archbishop Emo Martin of Armagh welcomed the publication of the report and apologized to the survivors and all. Realities [a investigação] Reveals“.

“I acknowledge that the church was part of a culture that was often tarnished, judged and rejected by the people,” the archbishop said. “It’s sad, but it’s important that we all reflect on the next few days. This report It addresses the personal history and experience of many families in Ireland, ”said Emon Martin.

Confirmed by a Sisters spokesman for Bom Sokoro, the church responsible for the mother and baby house in Tuam between 1925 and 1961 Global Sisters Report You want to participate in a repair scheme.

“When we ran home we did not live up to our Christianity. We did not respect the inherent dignity of the women and children who came home. We did not offer them enough sympathy,” said Sister Eileen O’Connor, who is in charge of the sisters. Bom Sokoro, one of the churches criticized in the report for not keeping funeral records Children who died in their institutions.

The report, now released, presents a story from Ireland in which “many women and children are rejected, silenced and excluded, in which they are subjected to poverty, humiliating their inherent human dignity and dying in life and in life”. Officials add: “Our sisters were part of this painful story. We especially recognize that the dead babies and children were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable manner at home. We apologize for all this.”

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