Report highlights Offaly's shameful Mother and Baby Homes past

It's likely that in excess of 1,100 mothers with addresses in Offaly were admitted to the 18 institutions examined in the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation.

The report published this week lists, where possible, the county of origin of the women, taken into the 18 homes concerned.

A breakdown of the percentage statistics available show that some 1,093 women with Offaly addresses were admitted to the homes. However, as not all records were available, the overall figures are likely to be in excess of that.

The report has been described as shining a light on a dark chapter in Ireland's past where women were consigned to these institutions, often run by religious orders or local authorities.

The largest single admission from Offaly was to the Sean Ross home in Roscrea, operated by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, from 1931 to 1969, where 364 women with Offaly addresses were admitted.

From 1932, Offaly was one of 14 health authorities agreeing to keep women in either Sean Ross or Bessborough in Cork, also operated by the same order.

The Castlepollard home in Westemeath, opened in 1935, and which operated between 1935-1971, was established for women from Westmeath and neighbouring counties, including Offaly, from where 296 women were admitted.

Other homes with mothers from Offaly were St Pat’s, Navan Road, Dublin (183), Bessborough, Cork (92), Dunboyne, Meath (82), Bethany House, Dublin (38), Denny House (33), Cork County Home and Tuam, Galway (2) and Thomastown (1).

As well as its investigation into the 18 Mother and Baby Homes, the report also looks at Department of Local Government and Public Health/Department of Health records regarding the operation of county homes, including in Offaly.

It cites Offaly as one of a number of counties which had some form of maternity unit attached to the county home. The Offaly county home was located in the former Tullamore workhouse.

A report on a 1927 Commission on the Relief of the Sick and Destitute Poor quoted in this week’s publication noted that while the premises had been improved and its management described as “good and sympathetic”, sanitary and bathing arrangements “should be improved”.

However, the practice of sending children from Offaly “automatically” to industrial schools was highlighted in the Mother and Baby Homes Commission report.

The report sets the context of the increased focus on “boarding out” or securing foster care for children in county homes. It notes that the Department of Local Government monitored the number of children in county homes closely throughout the 1950s, and repeatedly urged local authorities to place children in foster homes.

The report said: “Despite these pressures to board out children, and repeated strictures against dispatching children to industrial schools, a number of local authorities continued to commit many children to industrial schools without ministerial approval.

“Offaly was regularly noted as having few boarded-out children. The number fell from 40 in 1950, to 24 by 1955, by which time the department’s inspector believed that ‘the scheme is threatened with collapse’. Only three children were boarded out in 1954 and 1955. Despite repeated pleas from the inspector, Offaly failed to advertise for foster parents, leaving it to the assistance officers to identify suitable homes.

“Having failed to convince Offaly that boarding out was in the best interests of the child, the department inspector suggested that they consider the financial benefits of fostering: it cost substantially less than the cost of keeping a child in an approved school.

“Nevertheless Offaly persisted in keeping the children of unmarried mothers in the county home for several years, and then transferring them to industrial schools. Girls were generally sent to Lenaboy; boys went to St Joseph’s, Salthill.

“The department reminded Offaly, in vain, that children should only be sent to institutions when efforts to place them with a foster family had failed. Many of the children who were placed in foster homes in Offaly were removed; the department’s inspectors interpreted this as evidence that foster homes were not chosen with sufficient care. In 1965 there were 146 children from Laois and Offaly in institutions, ‘the vast majority of whom appear to have been sent automatically’; having spent their early years in the county home or a mother and baby home, these children were then dispatched to industrial schools.”

Children who were placed by their parents or others for reward were described as “nursed out”, or “at nurse”. In March 1945 there were 2,494 nursed-out children, and 2,351 children boarded out – or fostered - by local authorities.

The Mother and Baby Homes report says: “Many women who took children at nurse failed to register with the public assistance authority. They denied that they were receiving a financial payment for a child who was living in their home, in order to avoid inspection and registration. The Children Act 1934 sought to address this by presuming that any ‘illegitimate’ child who was placed with someone who was not a close family member had been placed ‘for reward’.”

Department inspectors frequently remarked on the small number of children at nurse who were registered in a particular county and the report says they “invariably assumed that the reported figure in such cases was an underestimate.”

This week’s publication says:“ There were only four nurse children registered in Offaly in 1945; the inspector concluded that the Act was not being observed in that county.”

Another incident covered in this week’s publication concerns a report by the Offaly Independent on correspondence from the Department of Local Government and Public Health to the Offaly Board of Health in May 1931, which suggests that the 26 unmarried mothers living in Tullamore county home should be transferred to Sean Ross.

Based on this paper’s report, it says: “In support of the suggestion, the chairman of the board said that the 26 women in question were ‘mere girls’ and first-time mothers and that every effort should be made to teach them how to become ‘self-supporting’. While the Offaly councillors did not oppose the suggestion in principle, some raised concerns regarding the cost of hiring staff to take on the work performed by these women in the county home.”