Truth Recovery Panel Report shines spotlight on Marianvale Institution

The Truth Recovery Independent Panel has today published its final report into Mother and Baby Institutions, Magdalene Laundries, and Workhouses in Northern Ireland including the Marianvale Institution in Newry. 

The 10-person Independent Panel was appointed in 2023 by the Executive Office to look further into the workings of the institutions and associated pathways and practices. 

The report casts light into the operation of the Marianvale Mother and Baby Institution located at the Good Shepherd Convent on the Armagh Road in Newry. The facility was in operation from 1955 to 1984 and was managed by the Good Shepherd Sisters who also managed the St Mary's Institution on site which operated a commercial laundry.

The Truth Recovery Independent Panel report points out that 1408 girls and women were admitted to Marianvale in Newry. The vast majority were from the north (82.3%) but some came from south of the border and some from Britain. 36.9% of the girls were under 19 with 7% of these under 17! Most (51.7%) were aged between 20 and 29.

Documenting how residents got there the report points out that welfare authorities were responsible for sending the majority of women/ girls to the home, a total of 416 (33.1%) although Catholic organisations in Ireland and England ,and priests, together sent 516 (41.2%). A total of 212 women/ girls (16.9%) are listed as 'Voluntary' referrals.

The report states that the vast majority of women/ girls a total of 1046, either returned home or went to relatives. For their babies though 569 (46%) went to a baby institution with 225 crossing the border. The report does add the caveat that these document the immediate movement of the children and doesn't represent the final outcome, as in many cases the children will have been adopted.

The Truth Recovery Panel received a number of testimonies from the public with the majority being critical of the institution citing things like physical mistreatment, inadequate medical treatment, hard physical labour and a religious ethos the imposed a sense of sinfulness and shame on the pregnant girls and women. Some though wanted to offer their support to the Good Shepherd Sisters claiming the home offered a safe haven from family anger and the sisters assisted with the educational needs of teenage girls.

The report states that 32 babies associated with Marianvale died between 1957 and 1982 (19 live births and 13 stillbirths) but that none of these took place in Marianvale and that site investigations in 2017 and in 2023 found no evidence of unmarked burials. The Independent Panel state they have seen no credible evidence that indicates that any child connected with Marianvale was buried illegally in its grounds.

Key Findings and Themes

• Women and girls estimated to have been admitted to these institutions have been revised upwards to 12,062 admitted to Mother and Baby Institutions, and 3,750 admitted to Magdalene Laundries and Thorndale Industrial Home.
• The existence of these institutions shows clear evidence of discrimination against women and girls.
• The Panel identified a series of serious human rights issues during its work that will require further investigation by the public inquiry – some of which include:
   1: Systemic failures by the State to exercise effective oversight of what have become known    as Magdalene laundries (in the context of Northern Ireland these were the three St Mary’s Homes, which were operated by the Good Shepherd Sisters) and Thorndale Industrial Home, which was operated by the Salvation Army. 
  2: The Panel’s investigation points to a systemic failure by the State to exercise effective oversight of the Mother and Baby Institutions.
  3: The Panel’s investigation also points to systemic failures in relation to the oversight by the State of foster placements, boarding-out placements and adoptive placements.
• The Panel has enhanced the understanding of the pathways and practices relating to institutions, for example, the cross-border movement of children, and the role of some private nursing homes and private family homes in the concealment of pregnancy and in family separation.
• The role of Sister Z (in Marianville) merits special attention from the public inquiry, given allegations of abuse made against her.
• The adoption system and role of former Social Worker A who was involved in adoptions in NI should be further investigated by the public inquiry.
• A key theme emerging from testimonies shared with the Panel was the sexual abuse and rape of many girls and women prior to their admission to an institution. This was only one aspect of the gender-based discrimination that enabled the existence of these institutions and their pathways and practices.
• The Panel maintains that it is important that lessons are learned from the past and reflected in current strategies aimed at ending violence against women and girls.

Recommendations to the Public Inquiry

The Panel’s investigation, encompassing its final report, testimonies, and archival records, will provide a significant new body of evidence for the future public inquiry. It is hoped this work will be fully considered, alongside the Panel’s recommendations on areas the inquiry may wish to prioritise. They include:

• Victims - survivors participating in the inquiry are afforded core participant status and that the inquiry creates a mechanism to receive and consider testimony and institutional records considered by the Panel. (R1, 2 and 5)

In the course of its work, the Panel identified a range of serious human rights issues which warrant further investigation by the public inquiry. These include:

• Systemic failures on the part of the State in allowing the institutions to exist at all and its failure to exercise effective oversight of the institutions, including baby institutions, and over foster, boarding-out and adoptive placements. (R6 and 7)
• Many participants who engaged with the Panel spoke of abuse, neglect and inadequate care in mother and baby institutions. In many cases, their experiences amounted to degrading treatment, and in some cases, the experiences described are likely to reach the threshold of inhuman treatment. In particular, the conduct of Sister Z in Marianville merits special attention, given the allegations of abuse made against her by women who spoke to the Panel. (R10)
• Systemic deficiencies in the regime for the selection and inspection of foster homes, boarding-out placements and adoptive homes, leading to failures to protect some children in these homes against abuse and neglect. As these are part of the pathways of the mother and baby institutions, this warrants further investigation. (R12)
• Labour laws were not enforced in the St. Mary’s Homes (Magdalene laundries). In particular, women and girls were required to carry out work for which they were not paid and many experienced forced labour. The Panel’s investigation also suggests that women and girls who worked in Thorndale Industrial Home were not paid. (R14)
• The practices surrounding the giving of consent to adoption after a mother was admitted to a mother and baby institution. In particular, the practices of the social worker anonymised in this report (as Social Worker A) merit special attention. (R18)
• Marianville records indicate that between 1950 and 1970, it acted as a third-party adoption agency. This places the institution more centrally in the adoption process than the GSS have acknowledged in the past. The public inquiry should investigate the dual role of this institution. (R19)
• The Panel was not given access to records from Barnardo’s or the Sisters of Mercy in relation to the baby institutions they operated. These should be investigated by the public inquiry as pathways from mother and baby institutions. If legislative measures are necessary to permit this, the Panel recommends they are taken. (R22)
• A fuller analysis of the role of a number of private nursing homes and a small number of private addresses in facilitating family separations and an assessment of their role as de facto mother and baby institutions should be carried out by the public inquiry. (R23 and 25)
• There were some systemic weaknesses around the registration of births, making it possible for the births of some adopted children to be falsely registered. This should be further investigated by the public inquiry. (R26)
   

Recommendations to the NI Executive

• The Panel recommends the immediate appointment of the Chairperson of the public inquiry and regrets that synergies that should have been created between the Panel and the inquiry have been lost due to delay in establishing the public inquiry. (R29)
• The Panel recommends that Clogrennan mother and baby institution, Larne and Thorndale Industrial Home, Belfast are added to the list of institutions to be investigated by the public inquiry and to the list of institutions for the purposes of eligibility for redress. (R31 and 32)
• Women and girls who gave birth in workhouses and were separated from their children and these children separated from their mothers, should be included in the scope of the standardised payment scheme. (R34)
• The public inquiry should consider the list of private nursing homes the Panel has identified for investigation and, if it confirms they acted as de facto mother and baby institutions, they should be added to the list of institutions for the purposes of eligibility for redress. (R33)
• Baby institutions should be added to the list of institutions to be examined by the public inquiry as they operated as pathways from mother and baby institutions. (R35)
• The Executive Office should establish an effective mechanism and begin negotiations with those responsible for the institutions to seek financial contributions to the redress scheme. (R44)

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