2 of 71,680
| THE ABUSE OF UNMARRIED MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN IS UNFORGIVEABLE. NO LESS UNFORGIVEABLE IS THE PRETENSE THAT IT HAPPENED ONLY IN CATHOLIC INSTITUTIONS PROTESTANT INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING ONE INTIMATELY CONNECTED WITH THE IRISH TIMES WERE EQUALLY GUILTY THIS IS ONE OF THE TRUTHS YOU WILL NOT SEE HEADLINED IN THE IRISH TIMES , NOR OTHER BRITISH CONTROLLED MEDIA The letter below was circulated by DR. NIALL MEEHAN, Head of the Journalism and Media, Griffith College, Dublin. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. —–Original Message—–Bethany survivor Patrick Anderson McQuoid writes to Minister Roderick O’Gorman ‘I am devastated, I feel like I have had another kick in the teeth’ To: Minister for Children Roderick O’Gorman – minister@equality.gov.ie From Patrick Anderson McQuoid, Leitrim 17 November 2021 Dear Minister Roderick O’Gorman, I was born on 24 July 1947 and resided in the Bethany Home for four months with my mother. Two weeks after she left me in November I was sent by the Bethany Home to a so-called nurse mother in Tipperary. I was badly neglected there. Essentially, I was starved. My Mother and Baby Home Commission transcript says I was sent to Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea – that is nonsense. In April 1950 I was transferred to The Fold institution (otherwise known as The Boley), under the control of The Irish Church Missions (ICM, a Church of Ireland society). A doctor’s report said that I was badly malnourished with rickets. I had blue extremities, with blue lips and cheeks. I suffered from ‘skull-cap’, a condition where folds of skin sit over the ears. I had an irregular heart beat. In 1950 my mother was forced to sign a form separating herself from me. In January 1951 I was sent to the Elliot Home, a Smyly’s Home run in connection with the ICM. In 1951 I was illegally transferred to Northern Ireland by the ICM. In 1952 I was adopted by an ICM connected family in the North where I was called ‘Paddy from the home’. That is how I got the name Patrick. I was christened Cecil. I was forced to do cooking, cleaning and farm work, I suffered physical and psychological abuse from my adoptive father and sexual abuse from a man who lived in the village. I never had a normal family life. My life was one trauma after another. My adoptive mother died when I was 13. At age 15 I got a job, saved money and went to England. I ended up homeless for a period and suffered from serious physical, emotional and psychological illness, in particular in the 1980s. These all related to my early life. I had no sense of identity. I suffered another serious breakdown in 2003. My reading of your compensation scheme means that I am not eligible because I was in the Bethany Home for 4 months. Please let me know if that is the case. If it is, I am devastated. I feel like I have had another kick in the teeth. It represents a terrible injustice. They say that the first six months of a child’s life is the most important – but not to you? How can you stand behind that? Yours sincerely, Patrick Anderson McQuoid, Leitrim. |
Comments are closed.