Dr Claire McGettrick Born Lorraine Hughes

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2/2 Please also contact your local politicians and Cork City Councillors and ask them to intervene: www.contactyourtd.ie www.corkcity.ie/en/council-s...

Poster with details of Bessboro Vigil, Sunday 8th March at 1pm The text reads as follows: The Bessboro Mother & Baby 'home' Support Group are protesting against the development of 140 apartments at Bessborough which has been granted permission by Cork City Council Planning. If this development goes ahead, it will set a precedent and is likely to lead to further larger developments in the grounds of Bessborough getting planning permission also, which will change the landscape of the whole area. 923 children born in Bessboro died and the burial places of 859 of them are not recorded, but the majority are likely to be buried on the grounds The remaining undeveloped 60 acres of the Bessborough estate should be preserved as a National Site of Conscience to remember and honour all those that died, as well as the 18,706 women and children that were incarcerated here. They were forgotten for so long! In addition to being a place of remembrance, the 60 acre site would be an invaluable amenity for the local community. We will be appealing the planning decision.

1/2 Please support @carmelcantwell.bsky.social and the Bessboro Support Group, at their vigil on 8th March at 1pm in protest at the Cork City Council decision to grant planning permission for development of the Bessboro site.

PRESS RELEASE - Response to first Annual Report of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme - Special Advocate Press Release published in relation to the first Annual Report of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, launched by Minister Foley on 5 February

The Special Advocate's Press Release is available here: www.specialadvocate.ie/press-releas...

A damning indictment of the scheme from the Special Advocate @patriciac.bsky.social

Concern over 'poor take up' of Mother and Baby scheme www.rte.ie/news/ireland...

10) The above observations are based on an initial read of the report.

Much more can & should be said about this deeply discriminatory scheme, some of which is set out in this Clann submission: clannproject.org/wp-content/u...

9) The figures/info cited (& not cited) in the report demonstrate how discriminatory the scheme is, how opaque its processes are, how poorly it serves people affected by forced family separation & institutionalisation & how disempowered they feel to fight back against this situation.

Screenshot of page showing data breaches

8) 13 data breaches occurred during the period covered, involving 'incorrect' info/docs uploaded/posted & one email was sent to an incorrect recipient.

'Appropriate actions were taken to mitigate against future risks' but no detail on how it happened in the first place or what actions were taken.

Screenshot of complaints page

In the period from 20th March 2024 to 31st December 2024, the Payment Scheme received one Subject Access Request (SAR) and five Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

7) 32 complaints were received in the period of time covered by the annual report. This shouldn't be interpreted as an indicator of satisfaction with the scheme. Rather, it speaks to a deep lack of empowerment amongst affected people, further evidenced by the v low number of FOIs (5) & SARs (1).

6) 🚨The reasons for requesting reviews & appeals aren't provided in the annual report (nor are they provided to affected people).

We've obtained (some of) these via PQ (h/t @ciaranahern.bsky.social): www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/q....

Why is this information not available as a matter of course?

Screenshot of number of appeals

5) The low number of appeals is deeply shocking. Just nine (!) people have requested an appeal & only two of these individuals have had a change to the outcome.

NB:
❌ An appeal can only be requested if a review has been done

❌ A review can only be carried out in a limited number of cases

Screenshot of reviews and appeals page

4) The number of requests for review is also low (433) & the outcome of these requests is not at all clear. I believe that 'NoD [notice of determination] issued' means there has been a change in the original decision, in which case just 76 people (17.6%) have had a successful outcome.

Screenshot of graph with the above figures

3) The number of applications is shockingly low (just shy of 6k), with awards paid to just 58% of these applicants.

Screenshot of annual report showing the scheme's purported 'values': Kindness and service excellence Respect and inclusivity Equality & human rights Integrity & commitment

2) The 'values' of the scheme (⬇️) are contradictory in the extreme:

Inclusivity?
Equality?
Human rights?

ℹ️ The scheme is not human rights compliant. Thousands are excluded from even applying to the scheme & not all applicants can request a review.

(For ℹ️ see clannproject.org/wp-content/u...)

Screenshot of the cover of the report

1) Minister Norma Foley has finally published the 'Mother & Baby Institutions Payment Scheme' annual report for 2024. Just a few initial observations:

❓It's Feb 2026 - why the delay in publication?

📖 It's just 22 pages long, which means it's low on details. This is deeply troubling.

There will (rightly) be much focus on Tuam in the coming days. But we can’t forget there are many other sites with remains unaccounted for, with families seeking answers & justice, e.g., @carmelcantwell.bsky.social @consumerfrank.bsky.social All burial sites deserve the same level of scrutiny.

Further to our earlier statement (⬇️) JFMR is pleased to confirm that the issue has now been resolved.

For further details see: jfmresearch.com/testimony/jf...

JFMR Statement Regarding a Significant Error in Testimony Documentary On Sunday 23rd November, Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) became aware that recent screenings of the Testimony documentary in the UK and Ireland are missing an onscreen caption providing esse…

JFMR Statement Regarding a Significant Error in Testimony Documentary

jfmresearch.com/testimony/jf...

A group of survivors, affected people, family members, along with members of JFMR

Testimony poster. Screening details are available in the link provided.

Testimony poster. Screening details are available in the link provided.

Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) welcomes the forthcoming release of Testimony in Irish and UK cinemas from 21st November. Further details, including screening times and dates are available at: jfmresearch.com/testimony/

A photo of the former Magdalene Laundry at Sundays Well. It's a large red brick building.

JFM Research Statement Re An Coimisiún Pleanála Decision to Grant Permission for SundaysWell Development:

jfmresearch.com/wp-content/u...

See JFMR's planning submissions page for further information:
jfmresearch.com/publications...

President Higgins giving his speech

1/5 On the occasion of his final day in office, JFMR commends the contributions made by @president.ie Michael D. Higgins to the campaign for justice for women incarcerated in Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries. (Photos: Paul Sherwood)

A photograph of Dr Jennifer O'Mahoney, Prof Katherine O'Donnell, Dr Elizabeth Riordan-Coppin, Dr Maeve O'Rourke, Dr Claire McGettrick born Lorraine Hughes and Dr Kate McCarthy. Everyone is wearing colourful academic robes.

Our sincere congratulations to Dr Elizabeth Riordan Coppin, who yesterday received an honorary doctorate from South East Technological University in Waterford.

jfmresearch.com/drriordan/

A reminder about the ethical protocols underpinning the work of the Magdalene Names Project & why we don’t publish lists of names.

If you’re seeking info about a deceased family member, or if you’re a survivor seeking evidence of your confinement, you’re welcome to contact us.

Justice for Magdalenes Research supports Industrial School survivors’ campaign; urges Government to provide proper health and social supports before it is too late Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) supports the demands of residential school survivors who began a hunger strike outside the Dáil on Monday 22 September. The survivors are campaigning for the …

Justice for Magdalenes Research supports Industrial School survivors’ campaign; urges Government to provide proper health and social supports before it is too late

jfmresearch.com/press-releas...

Lest anyone think that the work on the headstones was an indication of a Road to Damascus moment…

(cc @sheilaahern.bsky.social )

9) In essence, the OLC press release raises more questions than answers & despite issuing a PR, the order remains as opaque as ever about its activities, which is of no assistance to families seeking truth & justice.

8) Additionally, I note that the 1993 exhumations are conspicuous in their absence from OLC’s press release. Furthermore, the order does not specify whether their ‘review’ has examined the State mandated eye-witness record of the exhumations, or whether they’ve accounted for all 155 women.

7) For a start, while OLC say they’ve identified ‘three more gravesites’, we’re aware of at least 9 further unmarked plots at Glasnevin where women from High Park & Sean McDermott St are buried.

Magdalene Names Project ABOUT THE MAGDALENE NAMES PROJECT The Magdalene Names Project (MNP) is a JFM Research initiative which was established in 2003 in the context of the exhumations at High Park Magdalene Laundry. The …

6) It will take time to examine the new inscriptions/headstones & compare them to the data in the Magdalene Names Project databases (jfmresearch.com/home/magdale...)

But on the face of it, I’m not hopeful that this is the end of the matter.

5) Using publicly available data we uncovered significant errors in JP’s research. Who carried out the OLC ‘review’ & will the order now acknowledge the flaws in JP’s work?

More importantly, will the State now establish an independent investigation into the HP exhumations?