The Irish state and the Irish Catholic Church have apologized historically for administering and empowering a network of religious institutions that have abused and shamed single mothers and their children for much of the 20th century.
Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, led government figures on Wednesday by accepting responsibility and expressing remorse for the homes of mothers and babies who have turned generations of vulnerable women and babies into outcasts.
Eamon Martin, the Catholic primate of all Ireland, led statements by bishops and nuns who apologized for the central role of the Church in a dark chapter in Irish history.
The apologies followed the publication on Tuesday of a report long awaited by a judicial investigation commission, which documented harrowing abuses, neglect and cruelty in institutions that served as dumps for single mothers and their children.
Some survivors and opposition politicians said the report did not go far enough to establish criminal guilt for the state and the church, and called for the church’s assets to be seized unless the institution contributed to a state-run reparation scheme. .
The taoiseach told Dáil that he accepted that the state had too much responsibility.
“For the women and children who have been treated with such cruelty, we must do what we can to show our deep remorse, understanding and support. And so, on behalf of the government, the state and its citizens, I apologize for the profound generational error inflicted on Irish mothers and their children who ended up in a mother and baby house or a county house. “
About 56,000 women and 57,000 children were placed or born in the homes, most of them run by nuns, from 1922 until the last one closed in 1998. Families brought women into the homes, which functioned as orphanages and adoption agencies, to hide the that was considered the shame of pregnancy and birth outside of marriage.
The report found no evidence of sexual abuse and little evidence of physical abuse – a version contested by some survivors – but it documented cruelty, intolerance, neglect and a “terrifying” infant mortality rate about twice the national average.
“We honor piety, but we fail to show even basic kindness to those who need it most,” said the taoiseach.
The 2,865-page report compiled over five years gave voice to survivors, he said. “Former residents speak of a feeling of shame for the situation they were in. The shame was not theirs – it was ours, ”he said.
The report received saturation coverage in Ireland, displacing the coronavirus pandemic.
Eamon Martin, the most important figure in the Church in Ireland, apologized for “disturbing and painful” truths.
He said: “I accept that the church was clearly part of that culture in which people were often stigmatized, judged and rejected. For this, and for the lasting pain and emotional suffering that has resulted, I apologize without reservation. “
The investigation was prompted by the revelation that there were no burial records for nearly 800 children who died in a mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway. Later excavations found significant amounts of human remains in a deactivated septic tank.
The religious order of the Sisters of Bon Secours, who ran the house, apologized. “We recognize in particular that babies and children who died at home were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way. For all of this, we feel deeply. “
Catherine Corless, a historian who helped uncover the Tuam scandal, welcomed the apology and asked the nuns to let the remains be exhumed and the DNA tested.