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“I WAKE UP at night and I can’t go back to sleep. I think about the fact that I don’t know where my sister is, she might have been in that ground in Tuam.”
Peter Mulryan was born in the Tuam mother and baby home in Galway and lived in the institute for four and half years. His mother was taken to the Magdalene Laundries, where she spent 45 years.
Mulryan’s sister was born 10 years after him. She, too, was taken from his mother. He never found out where she was sent to, but suspects it could have been Tuam.
“I was never told where she was, and I’ve never found out. The High Court can’t tell me if she was in Tuam or if she was fostered to another part of the world. She might have been in that ground in Tuam,” Mulryan told TheJournal.ie.
“People can’t understand how I stayed so level-headed and held my past in for so long. There was nobody to talk to, we were told to mind our own business and keep our mouth shut. We had no support or respect from the Church either,” he said.
‘A new lease of life’
Mulryan lived a life of silence and fear for years before gaining the courage to speak out about his experience of living in the home.
However, over the past number of years, he slowly began to reach out to other survivors for support.
This year, the Tuam mother and babies home came under the spotlight after historian Catherine Corless’ research led to the discovery of the human remains in sewage chambers at the Tuam site.
Her research revealed the deaths of 796 babies and children at the home.
As the news broke, little by little, Mulryan found like-minded people who were also looking for support and a safe space to talk about their past.
From there, the Tuam Home Survivors Network was created. Mulryan became chairperson of the network.
The network aims to reach out to others who share similar experiences in a peer-to-peer supportive manner.
So far, the network has 22 members. Mulryan said it has given him a “new lease of life”.
“Now, I can go out and tell my stories. Over the past 70 years, I was silenced and I couldn’t talk about my problems. Now, this avenue has opened up and it means so much,” Mulryan said.
“We all help and support each other as much as possible. We’re even going to have our first Christmas lunch together this year,” he said.
It has created a new family in my life which didn’t exist before.
Archaeologist and secretary of the network Breeda Murphy explained the importance of having a network for anyone affected by the Tuam.
“They can talk, they can feel, they’re speaking sometimes for the first time, or maybe they’re just listening,” Murphy said.
“We’re the only forum who can come together comfortably and we can advise people who are opening up for the first time.”
Tuam report
This week, Minister for Children Katherine published the report by the Expert Technical Group on the site of the Tuam mother and baby home.
The report was commissioned to compile a list of options about what could be done with the Tuam site and how best to recover the remains of those buried there.
However, it notes that it will not be possible to identify many of the remains, pointing out “the impossibility of achieving positive DNA identification of infants and young juveniles without samples from living relatives”.
Mulryan stressed his frustration at the delay of identifying all the bodies found buried at the sight.
“It’s just such a slow movement. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel. We’re being left out to be blown away in the wind. There is no respect for us whatsoever,” he said.
Mulryan told TheJournal.ie that anyone who has been affected by the Tuam mother and baby home and are frustrated of the progress being made in investigations or who are afraid to open up about their past should come forward to the network and receive support.
“It should make it much easier for people to feel comfortable speaking now that they’ve heard about us,” Mulryan said.
“There are so many people who are afraid because they’ve spent so much time in a life where they have been afraid to speak out and where they have been treated with secrecy and disrespect.”
The Tuam Home Survivors Network launches officially today. Information about the network can be found on its website here.
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Eh it’s the sun what do you expect. Its a total rag.
Would never ever buy The Sun.
(Except when it’s €0.50 during Euro 2016)
The Sun…keeping it classy. A $h1t wipe of a newspaper that’s barely fit for even that purpose.
The Sun is so pointless. I mean I would use it as bog roll if it weren’t more expensive than the regular stuff. A shame, really.
A shyte wipe newspaper , published by a shyte.
Aside from the sun being a toilet paper mouthpiece for Murdoch it seems Scotland is not healthy place for anti-war politicians.
From Winston Churchill to Tony Blair: How British Leaders Destroyed Iraq for over a Century.
By Garikai Chengu
” After seven years, the Chilcot report has delivered a damning verdict on Tony Blair’s role in the war on Iraq, but British Prime Ministers playing a destructive role in Iraq is a centuries old practice.
Britain has used its military might and commercial prowess to subjugate Iraq and control its oil resources for over one hundred years.”
If you were to use The Sun as bog roll you would wipe more on than you would take off
I wouldn’t dare use The Sun as toilet paper! I might catch something, like getting a case of dumb.
I would never buy it. I don’t even take it when it’s free. Complete rag.
Robin Cooks speech above is one of the greats, if you have not viewed it already it’s well worth your time.
Wow. I agree with Jammin for the first time!!
Too late to apologise now, he is dead. So who is the spineless creature now? The U.S. and U.K. declared war on a nation to get its oil and the UN stood back and did NOTHING, is that not spineless as well?
You’re blaming the UK for the actions of the US and Britain? What could they do? They don’t have a military and were powerless to do anything. Blame the guilty.
UN not UK…. :-) Wish you could edit / delete comments!
The UN did nothing? The UN security council probably would’ve authorised an invasion in a few more years if the brutality of Saddam’s regime continued. But you can never tell. Such an inept organisation that has never been fit for purpose.
Are the US and UK not members of the UN?
The Sun is pathetic
Its readers are aswell tbf
Robin cook, who just happened to fall off a mountain in Scotland. Mmmm
No word about Dr. Kelly or how he could hold a blade in his hands to cut his wrists when he cut so deep into his wrists that he couldn’t hold the blade with his fingers?
Could have, but even so, you do not f**k with the military industrial complex…the weapons inspector that ended up dead outside London before he was to give his verdict is another case.
He didn’t just happen to fall off a mountain in Scotland. He died of hypertensive heart disease, while with his wife.
He was an able and principled politician, leave the conspiracy theory nonsense out of it.
Silly Phil!!!
Keep watching Sky News Phil !
You’re confused Robin Cook with Blair’s predecessor John Smith, who died after falling ill while hill walking.
I always feel so sad about that poor man Dr Kelly, shameful what they did to him. Shameful what they did to us all!
John Smith did not die hillwalking. He had a heart attack in his flat in London and died later in St Bart’s Hospital.
Phil is right – Robin Cook’s wife was with him when he had his heart attack and therefore doesn’t see his death as suspicious in any way. Sorry if what actually happened is too mundane for you – I’m sure the conspiracy narrative is much more exciting…
The Sun is still a rag though.
Sorry to break it to you people but there are still plenty of lies going on today that the majority buy into. The propaganda ball keeps rolling and it won’t stop anytime soon.
When I was in my teens I found George Carlin who said (paraphrasing) “I have certain rules I live by. My first rule is that I don’t believe anything the government tells me, and I don’t take seriously the media or the press”. I took that on board. Words from the government and the press (generally the unofficial public relations arm of government) that try to convince you of something are nothing more than the words of a certain group of people trying to get your approval that will enable them to do something for their own benefit, not yours.
Look past the fear, the emotive language, etc. and question everything.
With you there Alan.The language used/permitted/propagated/favoured is much more significant than many realise.
Well the same is happening now, the Chilcot enquiry, and the salivating of the press over it is just a means to press the reset button. To reboot the establishment. And the public is falling for it.
It is an effort to hang all the “evil” on one man Blair and absolve the press, politicians, public and state hierarchy for a war that has become a totem for some reason. It was a war the same as any war.
It is conveniently forgotten that there was overwhelming support for the war on Iraq. After all, Tony Blair was returned to power in 2005 with a majority of 68, a landslide by today’s standards. When and why did Blair become persona non grata?
@Joe, if you’d had a look at the Daily Fail during the week, the Iraq war was just a lefty plot, all the horrible comments about lefty this & lefty that, forgetting that most, if not all of the Tories supported the Iraq war.
@alan, Vidal gore, I’m sure was his name, an American with some very good views on politics and psyche in America, sadly departed but he nailed each and every wayward step America has and explained what they (white house) were up to. Definitely a man ahead of his time.
Well said Alan.
Those British men who read The Sun are idiots. Haven’t they heard of the libellous edition of The Sun that was published after the Hillsborough disaster?
The Conservative Party was in decline under John Major. Therefore, there was no need for Tony Blair to rely on Murdoch.
Sir Humphrey: The only way to understand the Press is to remember that they pander to their readers’ prejudices.
Jim Hacker: Don’t tell me about the Press. I know *exactly* who reads the papers. The Daily Mirror is read by the people who think they run the country. The Guardian is read by people who think they *ought* to run the country. The Times is read by the people who actually *do* run the country. The Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country. The Financial Times is read by people who *own* the country. The Morning Star is read by people who think the country ought to be run by *another* country. The Daily Telegraph is read by the people who think it is.
Sir Humphrey: Prime Minister, what about the people who read The Sun?
Bernard Woolley: Sun readers don’t care *who* runs the country – as long as she’s got big tits.
I love Yes, Minister & Yes, Prime Minister, recently watched it all again from scratch, it’s amazing how nothing has really changed.
Didn’t know it was just men that read the Sun
@anthony campion
I can’t imagine that many British women would read The Sun (You might know why).
It is so sad that that both these fine men along with Dr Kelly are gone before the truth came out.
Funny enough, I could use the same headline to describe the sun
The Journal should know better than taking unnecessary pot shots at a fellow news organisation. This place isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue the whole time either.
I get what you’re saying, but calling the Sun a news organisation made your point null and void.
The Journal is pretty inoffensive in comparison to the tripe turned out regularly by that rag. There is no comparison.
Reminds me of the Michael Dwyer story In Bolivia, remember him been described as a Walter Mitt character by the newspapers here, wonder what the journalists who wrote this about an innocent man are doing now?, I wonder if any of these journalists have ever apologised to his family for the crap they wrote in order to sell their newspapers. These journalists aim their crap at the sheeple, of which there are many, they know the people, of which there are few, will wait until all the facts come out
Mitty
Automatic thumbs down for using the word “sheeple”
Ahh comeon, why.
conri, sheep don’t like to be compared with people. People have an obligation to use their brains and inform themselves as to the rights and wrongs of matters.
Sheep on the other hand simply follow all government dictats and are herded down whatever road the government wants. The rejoice in their sheepishness, and think anyone who doesn’t agree with them are fools.
Dave, how true !!!
‘The purpose of newspapers is not to sell news to readers but to sell readers to advertisers.’ The sun can easily be dismissed as a rag but its influence on society is far too malign to ignore. It panders to peoples base instincts and knows its audiences short memories only too well.
The good people of Liverpool have personal experience of the Sun and it’s lies and they take the appropriate action by not buying the rag.
The Sun has perpetrated their bile against working class people and they’ve castigated ordinary decent people as thugs and spongers etc etc.
Had they been on the ‘remain’ side they’d have had an excuse to go a rant along the same lines against the other side but of course that didn’t happen.
But ANY newspaper who’d employ Kelvin Mckenzie, in any capacity is a only fit to be burnt.
The Sun ,that Beacon of moral compass.
Yeah – Britney’s 24 hour Sexathon, pure filth.
The Sun , you wouldnt even use it to wipe up vomit .
Did you notice who is sitting behind Robin Cooke in the green suit?
The Sun: My arse deserves better.
Any Irish person who buys the Sun should be ashamed of themselves. An utter rag that has peddled anti Irish sentiment for years.
Fair play to the Sun
Dear Deirdre is the best part of the sun ;)
Why can’t we all just get along?
First i heard about charles kennedys passing. belated RIP
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