{"id":23514,"date":"2025-03-08T22:54:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T22:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/?post_type=events&p=23514"},"modified":"2025-09-20T20:04:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T19:04:50","slug":"partners-in-crime-collusion-between-church-and-state-in-irelands-notorious-mother-and-baby-homes","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/events\/partners-in-crime-collusion-between-church-and-state-in-irelands-notorious-mother-and-baby-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"Partners in crime"},"content":{"rendered":"
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View of the mass grave at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, Tuam, County Galway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mary Muldowney<\/strong> will give an overview of the appalling abuses that took place in many of the mother and baby homes in Ireland since the foundation of the state in 1922. The homes were supposed to provide safety and support for unwed mothers at a time when there was considerable stigma attached to having sex outside marriage. They were mainly run by religious bodies, predominantly Roman Catholic nuns, and the regimes they established had more to do with punishing the \u2018sins\u2019 of the mothers than concern for their welfare and that of their children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2014, the research carried out over several years by local historian Catherine Corless into the Bon Secours Home in Tuam, Co. Galway was reported on in the\u00a0Mail on Sunday <\/i>newspaper and the story went viral. Corless\u2019s research suggested that the bodies of nearly 800 babies were buried in a mass grave in the grounds of the home. The international outrage, following decades of revelations about clerical abuse of children, forced the Irish government to investigate. A Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby homes (including the one in Tuam) was set up and eventually issued its report in 2021, after being given several extensions. This presentation will outline the main findings of the report, as well as the many criticisms about the limitations on its terms of reference.<\/p>\n

Silu Pascoe<\/strong> will speak about the connections with Bristol’s Magdalene institution which is currently being researched by local historians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Muldowney will give an overview of the appalling abuses that took place in many of the mother and baby homes in Ireland since the foundation of the state in 1922. The homes were supposed to provide safety and support for unwed mothers at a time when there was considerable stigma attached to having sex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"categories":[430,433,755],"tags":[2075,2068,2073,2071,2070,2074,2069,2072],"class_list":["post-23514","events","type-events","status-publish","hentry","category-religion","category-women","category-workhouses-poverty-laws","tag-2075","tag-bon-secours","tag-catholic","tag-corless","tag-mother-and-baby","tag-nuns","tag-tuam","tag-unwed-mothers"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPartners in crime - Bristol Radical History Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/events\/partners-in-crime-collusion-between-church-and-state-in-irelands-notorious-mother-and-baby-homes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Partners in crime - Bristol Radical History Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mary Muldowney will give an overview of the appalling abuses that took place in many of the mother and baby homes in Ireland since the foundation of the state in 1922. The homes were supposed to provide safety and support for unwed mothers at a time when there was considerable stigma attached to having sex […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/events\/partners-in-crime-collusion-between-church-and-state-in-irelands-notorious-mother-and-baby-homes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bristol Radical History Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/126960655805\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-20T19:04:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/960px-View_of_the_mass_grave_at_the_Bon_Secours_Mother_and_Baby_Home_Tuam_Galway.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BrisRadHis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Partners in crime - Bristol Radical History Group","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.brh.org.uk\/site\/events\/partners-in-crime-collusion-between-church-and-state-in-irelands-notorious-mother-and-baby-homes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Partners in crime - Bristol Radical History Group","og_description":"Mary Muldowney will give an overview of the appalling abuses that took place in many of the mother and baby homes in Ireland since the foundation of the state in 1922. 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