At least 9,000 children died in the homes of Ireland’s mother and baby between 1922 and 1998, where single mothers and their illegitimate children were forced to live in “horrible” conditions that included forced trials. of vaccines, starvation and burials in the garden, found a scathing probe released Tuesday.
The House and Children’s Commission of Inquiry, launched in 2015 by the Irish Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, found that houses were indeed a death sentence for babies and torture for their children. mothers.
In some years, homes saw infant mortality rates nearly double the nation’s average and found that homes before 1960 “did not save the lives of“ illegitimate ”children and“ in fact, appear[ed] have significantly reduced their chances of survival “.
In all, 15% of the 57,000 children who called the 18 institutions investigated at home during the 76-year period died, a figure the Commission report called “probably the most disturbing feature of these institutions.” .
Meanwhile, rising deaths and decrepit conditions were known to local authorities, who did nothing about it, the report found.
The Commission painted a clear picture of what it was like to be a single mother and a fatherless child in Ireland throughout much of the 20th century. Families evicted from their homes and ridiculed by their communities, women who became pregnant out of wedlock were forced to enter institutions simply because there was nowhere else to go.
Designed as a refuge, the houses were little more than walls where mothers had to squat on the floor for dinner and lived in “cold and seemingly uneasy” environments full of “emotional abuse,” “denigration,” and ” derogatory comments ”. “.
Many of the homes were overcrowded, understaffed, and had poor toilets and water, forcing many of the women to use the bathroom outside. The Commission found that severe outbreaks of typhoid and diphtheria ravaged homes and killed many of the mothers and their children.
For meals, local government houses often served “poor meat and low-quality bread and milk with little nutritional value” and were generally found to be “adulterated or unfit for consumption.”
In one house, bread and tea were the only meals served, but even that was “too generous” for destitute families, a local government official said at the time forcing the house to reduce. at three the four daily meals.
Through the homes, the Commission found a total of seven vaccine trials that took place between 1934 and 1973 and identified several children involved.
“It is clear that the relevant ethical and regulatory standards of the time were not complied with as neither the mothers of the children nor their guardians were obtained and the necessary licenses were not in place,” he stated. the Commission.
Burial records for many of the houses were also not preserved or were incomplete, and in at least one house, the dead children were buried on the institution’s premises.
The BBC reported that the Irish government is expected to apologize for the appalling conditions and severe infant mortality rates. Prime Minister Mícheál Martin said the report revealed a “dark, difficult and embarrassing chapter” in Ireland’s history, the media reported.
“As a nation we have to face the full truth of our past,” police said.