1) I see that Mary Hanafin is considering a run for the Áras.

A reminder that in 2001 MH tried to bring in legislation that would have seen adopted people fined or imprisoned for the ‘crime’ of contacting their mothers.

See (2) for details.

3) Second, govt has announced that affected people can deposit their testimonies, papers & artefacts with the National Archives & the National Museum.

I can’t overstate how important this is (🚨& I hope we don’t have a fight on our hands to ensure that this process is inclusive)

1) 🚨Today we’ve had 3 significant developments in the area of institutional & forced family separation abuses. 

First, our calls for representation of affected people on the National Centre for Research & Remembrance Steering Committee (& others) have finally been heard.

5) 154 of the exhumed women were subsequently reinterred at Glasnevin on 11/09/93 at a private ceremony.

Just 2 days later on 13/09/93 members of the Srs of Our Lady of Charity were signing CRO docs to establish Ruhama.

2) Some facts about the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity (OLC), co-founders of Ruhama.

In 1993, 155 women were exhumed from High Park Magdalene Laundry to make way for a property development.

🚨154 women were cremated, in many cases 2 to a coffin, all in aid of cutting costs.

Not surprised at the outcome of these ‘negotiations’. Meanwhile, for those most affected, nothing changes—thousands excluded from ‘redress’ & countless other ongoing rights violations. The State needs to grasp the nettle & stop allowing religious orders to act with impunity.

I received via FOI the redress scheme’s Standard Operating Procedure for record searches.

🚨There are multiple redactions.

So not only do countless civil servants have a level of access to records about us that we can only dream of, we’re not even afforded transparency re how they find them!

2/3 However, I'd encourage a more nuanced characterisation than that shown in the excerpt below. I believe it's important to understand the context within which mothers sometimes say 'no' to contact & to acknowledge that the 'no' isn't always permanent. See: www.thejournal.ie/readme/irish...

4) Furthermore:

🚨Ineligible people are blocked from even applying
🚨The scheme's administrators are circumventing applicants' wishes regarding communication
🚨Letters of determination do not even afford applicants the courtesy of providing a name & signature (see 📷).

ℹ️ If you’re affected by adoption in/from Ireland, and/or the Magdalene Laundries, Mother & Baby Homes and related ‘historical’ abuses, resources are available at: adoption.ie/help

Emerging briefly from my PhD bunker to express firm support for trans people, TENI & for BelongTo’s vital work.

Media orgs need to take a long hard look at themselves & the role they are playing in the relentless persecution of trans folk.

#TransRightsAreHumanRights