Pelletstown: Another Tuam?

JupiterKid

I'm sure most here will now be familiar with the scandal of the mass "burial" of nearly 800 infants from a Church-run mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway and the breaking story that human remains have indeed been unearthed at the site.

It appears that there was a mother and baby home in operation at Pelletstown, Dublin. Pelletstown is located between Finglas and Ashtown and remained undeveloped until the 2000s when a major development of apartments and townhouses was commenced in the area.

So do any Dublin City Boardsies reside in the Pelletstown area? Might you be concerned that, like Tuam, there may be a mass grave of infants yet to be discovered? Does anyone here know anything about the Pelletstown mother and baby home? I had never heard about it until I read a news article this morning.

I don't mean to be alarmist but isn't this something that should be investigated?

Link here:
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/more-than-660-children-died-in-dublin-home-in-seven-years-1.1840174

Cathy Kelly

My late Mother was in Pelletstown other name St. Patricks Mother and Baby home on the Navan road Dublin from May 1931 until November 1935. She was fostered out to a house in Lucan where she had a very happy childhood. She always wanted to know about her Mother Bridget Roberts. I've spent many years trying to get information about this Lady who would have been with my Mother for four and a half years.All I need is a date of birth for this Lady. Mam always said the Nuns were very cruel.I really believe now that any information that is locked away should be made available. It is not too much to ask when you think of all the suffering these Mothers and their little babies went through. Cathy Kelly

Victor

Pelletstown townland isn't just the current / recent development area (Royal Canal Park / Rathborne / Pelletstown names) north of the canal / railway. It includes the Kempton estate south of the canal.

It would seem that the home was at what is now the Kempton estate. http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V2,711267,737055,11,9

https://fusiontables.googleusercontent.com/embedviz?q=select+col3+from+1WT8jHs-P-E_whi6XhsRP1BdiWRqwZy_8zfPMoq_M&viz=MAP&h=false&lat=53.2363129141323&lng=-8.617421383593875&t=1&z=7&l=col3&y=2&tmplt=2&hml=ONE_COL_LAT_LNG

neris

just heard mention on pat kenney this morning about st patricks. contributor to the show was saying theres 5000 babies from that home buried in unmarked graves in glasnevin.

Victor

neris wrote: »

just heard mention on pat kenney this morning about st patricks. contributor to the show was saying theres 5000 babies from that home buried in unmarked graves in glasnevin.

That might be high for Pelletstown, given this: http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/mother-and-baby-home-st-patricks-2380868-Oct2015/

Saint Patrick’s was by far the largest of the nine Mother and Baby homes in terms of the numbers who passed through and approximately 9,000 to 12,000 women and girls went through its doors. It was also a massive ‘holding centre’ in it’s own right for unaccompanied babies and children. It was certified for 149 beds for unmarried mothers and 560 cots/beds for babies and children.

Babies and children who passed away were sent for burial to the national Angel’s Plot in Glasnevin Cemetery in north Dublin. There are two periods when exact numbers of deaths are known and rough estimates from other years would indicate that at least 2,000 and possibly above 3,000 babies and children died during its 81 years of operation on the Navan Road.

But this: http://www.alittlelifetime.ie/angels-memory-garden-glasnevin-mainmenu-36 says "This Old Plot is the resting place for over fifty thousand infants who were buried there up to the 1970’s"

L1011

The angels plot included still births and similar from everywhere in Dublin so the figure will be very high

Spanish Eyes

Such an awful period of our history.

I'd say that every Mother and Baby home in the land had a similar "disposal of babies" policy.

Many a housing estate is built on top of these former homes. Tuam is not the only one by a long stretch.

How painful for those who lived there and relatives of those who died. I just despair sometimes at the awful criminality of the Catholic Church. First it was women, then it was babies, then it was sexual abuse of children. Good Lord. Absolutely unreal.

Gatling

Depending on how you actually look at it ,if 2000 babies did pass away during the 81 years this particular home was open and operating it would work out at around 24 deaths per year at a time when we had a fairly high infant mortality rate across the country as a whole ,
I know it might sound cold if you look at it more than the headline ,compare the deaths to hospitals and family homes at the time/s you will likely see a similar number of infant deaths

Victor

Gatling wrote: »

Depending on how you actually look at it ,if 2000 babies did pass away during the 81 years this particular home was open and operating it would work out at around 24 deaths per year at a time when we had a fairly high infant mortality rate across the country as a whole

Infant mortality rates in mother and baby homes were about 4 times that of the general population.

https://twitter.com/Limerick1914/status/837643266963226629

Hagar7

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Such an awful period of our history.

I'd say that every Mother and Baby home in the land had a similar "disposal of babies" policy.

Many a housing estate is built on top of these former homes. Tuam is not the only one by a long stretch.

How painful for those who lived there and relatives of those who died. I just despair sometimes at the awful criminality of the Catholic Church. First it was women, then it was babies, then it was sexual abuse of children. Good Lord. Absolutely unreal.

Agreed,absolutely sickening and is it any wonder the Catholic Church is losing thousands upon thousands of people by their past deeds including sexual abuse by so called men of God.
They are a stain on society,a filthy rotten stinking shower of evil bastards and I haven't stepped inside a chapel for 6 years and never will again,shame on them all.

Hagar7

I find it shameful that folk on Boards.ie are ignoring what's going on,are they so offended they can't even discuss it for fear of being targeted on here?

Hagar7

The baby black market

Mother-and-baby homes were only part of the system for dealing with unmarried mothers in the 1950s. Many children were also sold into a thriving network that stretched from Ireland to the US

The National Archives of Ireland contain just a few snippets, but they are enough to make clear that State officials in 1950s Ireland knew the country was a centre for illegal international baby trafficking. The number of children involved can’t even be guessed at, but we can be sure they were all “illegitimate”.
Ireland was regarded as a “hunting ground”, in the words of a senior civil servant, where foreigners in search of babies could easily obtain illegitimate children from mother-and-baby homes and private nursing homes, then remove them from the State without any formalities.

Article continues: http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/the-baby-black-market-1.1847804

Victor

Hagar7 wrote: »

I find it shameful that folk on Boards.ie are ignoring what's going on,are they so offended they can't even discuss it for fear of being targeted on here?

What do you mean by this?

Hagar7

Victor wrote: »

What do you mean by this?

It's as if so called adults do not wish to discuss something that is so blatant and disgusting they'd rather close their eyes and hope it all goes away.
Are you disgusted by what happened in Ireland,tell me what YOU THINK.

tricky D

Hagar7 wrote: »

I find it shameful that folk on Boards.ie are ignoring what's going on,are they so offended they can't even discuss it for fear of being targeted on here?

Hagar7 wrote: »

It's as if so called adults do not wish to discuss something that is so blatant and disgusting they'd rather close their eyes and hope it all goes away.
Are you disgusted by what happened in Ireland,tell me what YOU THINK.

There is plenty of discussion on this matter in the Atheism and Christianity forums with over 6000 posts. So there's zero ignoring the matter around these parts.

Also please do not quote full articles from copyrighted sources; the 1st paragraph and a link to the article is the way to do it. I have edited your post above accordingly.

Victor

Hagar7 wrote: »

It's as if so called adults do not wish to discuss something that is so blatant and disgusting they'd rather close their eyes and hope it all goes away.

I have seen much discussion, here, and on Twitter and Facebook.

Are you disgusted by what happened in Ireland,

Yes I am. I am saddened and angered. I thought earlier about going to the local convent and killing everyone there. But that would be wrong. Those people didn't do these things. The people who did these things are for the most part dead.

tell me what YOU THINK.

My niece died when she was 15 months old. At home in bed, across the hall from her sisters and parents.

The little girl I visited when she was a few hours old. Who I fed when she was a few days old. A few minutes later, her mother, my sister asked me would I be her godfather. I said we had agreed it already. The little girl I would mind for a few hours at a time or one weekend for two full days. The little girl that wasn't afraid of the volcano, but was afraid of the coffee machine and the mirror. The little girl I bought a fancy dress for, that would never be worn.

I had been going through a rough patch after a car crash and this little girl helped me hold things together. Sure, on one level toddlers drive you mad, but on another they are a thing to live for, to hope for.

I know a tiny bit what it must be like for some of the women in the mother and baby homes. I don't know which is worse, that I knew my niece or that they didn't know their own children.

But often, I dare not think.

Hagar7

tricky D wrote: »

There is plenty of discussion on this matter in the Atheism and Christianity forums with over 6000 posts. So there's zero ignoring the matter around these parts.

Also please do not quote full articles from copyrighted sources; the 1st paragraph and a link to the article is the way to do it. I have edited your post above accordingly.

No problem at all,cheers.

Hagar7

Victor wrote: »

I have seen much discussion, here, and on Twitter and Facebook.

Yes I am. I am saddened and angered. I thought earlier about going to the local convent and killing everyone there. But that would be wrong. Those people didn't do these things. The people who did these things are for the most part dead.

My niece died when she was 15 months old. At home in bed, across the hall from her sisters and parents.

The little girl I visited when she was a few hours old. Who I fed when she was a few days old. A few minutes later, her mother, my sister asked me would I be her godfather. I said we had agreed it already. The little girl I would mind for a few hours at a time or one weekend for two full days. The little girl that wasn't afraid of the volcano, but was afraid of the coffee machine and the mirror. The little girl I bought a fancy dress for, that would never be worn.

I had been going through a rough patch after a car crash and this little girl helped me hold things together. Sure, on one level toddlers drive you mad, but on another they are a thing to live for, to hope for.

I know a tiny bit what it must be like for some of the women in the mother and baby homes. I don't know which is worse, that I knew my niece or that they didn't know their own children.

But often, I dare not think.

Victor,I'm so sorry and you are right,many have now passed on,your inner thoughts will see you through,trust me.