An event organised by The Tuam Mother and Baby Home Alliance that will see survivors/former residents of the home and other institutions discuss their experiences and share collaborative artwork, at a meeting in the Menlo Park Hotel on Thursday, June 8 from 10:45 am to 4:30 pm.
The event which is titled, ‘Still Seeking Justice: Survivors of Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes and their allies promote discourse and healing’, will see a full day of symposiums, lectures and art displays focusing on the experiences of survivors of the Tuam home. Tuam Mother and Baby Home (officially named St Mary’s Mother and Baby Home ) made global headlines in 2014 following the discovery that death records for 796 babies and children listed from the home, did not have a burial site listed following their passing, instead the burial chamber where some of the remains were found were in a former waste tank on the site. The discovery, led by local historian Catherine Corless, who came across the information while researching an article for a local history journal, would begin a decade long fight for justice, answers and apologies by survivors/former residents, the families of the deceased children and babies and ally groups.
Just last week it was announced that Daniel Mac Sweeney, was appointed as Director of Authorised Intervention for the Site and had, through his previous humanitarian work with the International Committee of the Red Cross, experience working to clarify the fate and the whereabouts of some 2,300 people unaccounted for following conflicts in the 1990’s and 2000’s.
The meeting has been organised in collaboration with artists who have created pieces of work inspired by the experiences and lives of those who had been in Irish institutions, through a variety of mediums.
Timetable
The ‘Still Seeking Justice’ event will from it’s beginning at 11:30 look at a variety of subjects, including art exhibitions and personal essays and lectures by survivors of the Tuam institution, but also their peers from other ‘homes’ of that type including, Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, in Cork, Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home in Roscrea, Co Tipperary and Newry Mother and Baby Home, Co Down. As well as thought provoking personal discussions sessions focused on a range of topics have been arranged including; trafficking, vaccine trials, the ‘boarded-out’/fostered children from institutions, Magdalene Laundries, state records and response and enforced disappearances.
At 4pm, doctoral student of cultural anthropology, Cate Morley, who will present a lecture looking at the continued disappearances of 100,000 people who have been ‘forcibly disappeared’ in Mexico since the 1960’s and the government inaction to date. Similar in many ways to survivors of clerical institutions in Ireland, families of the ‘disappeared’ have come together in collectives to search for their loved ones and fight for justice.
Recognition and thanks
Organisers of the event have shared their thanks to those who have made the art exhibitions possible, with a special thanks given to “survivors who recall when requested, at personal cost, the trauma of their incarceration. Likewise for families of the lost children, some of whom are searching for more than six decades.”
The event will be open to the public, regardless of how long they are able to attend. The conference will begin on Thursday, June 8, at 10:45 with registration at 11 am, talks and lectures will take place throughout the day with an allocated time for lunch. The event is due to come to a close at 4:30 pm. For further information email [email protected]
