‘This is the opportunity for people to tell their story in full’: People held in institutions in Northern Ireland urged to come forward

People living in the Republic of Ireland who may have spent time in mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries and workhouses in Northern Ireland have been urged to come forward.
The 10-strong Stormont-appointed Truth Recovery Independent Panel is seeking testimony from anyone held in such institutions as mother or baby from 1922 until the last of them closed in 1995.
The testimonies collected will help to guide the panel’s final recommendations and “help to inform the future statutory public inquiry” that Stormont has agreed to mount into the operation of the institutions.
Gathering the testimonies is “an important part” of the independent panel’s work, it said, yesterday, saying it has created “a sensitive and carefully designed approach, using specially trained staff to hear from those affected.
Widening the appeal, the panel said it now wants to hear not only from people directly affected, but also family members and anyone who “worked, volunteered in or lived in close proximity to one of these institutions”.
The appeal, which is being made to anyone living on the island of Ireland and the wider diaspora internationally, will be backed up by a series of information events to be held across Northern Ireland in October.
The dates of the sessions are October 8th, Omagh, Silver Birch Hotel, 6pm – 9.30pm; October 16th, Newry Canal Court Hotel, 6pm – 9.30pm; October 22nd, Belfast Europa Hotel, 2pm – 4pm and 6pm – 8pm; and October 30th, Derry, City Hotel, 2pm – 4pm, 6pm – 8pm.
There, people will have the opportunity to meet panel members and testimony facilitators, who will be able to answer any questions about the giving of testimony and any other concerns.
So far, the panel has obtained more than 4,500 records on people held in the institutions as mothers or babies, which are being processed. Currently, it is finalising guidance to help survivors or families to access information held about them.
Survivor representatives such as Paul McClarey and Maria Cogley have been ‘pivotal’ in developing the approach being taken, the panel said yesterday, and both feature in videos urging others to come forward.
Both were adopted after they were taken away from their mothers who had been sent by their families sent to the Marianville mother and baby institution run by the Good Shepherd nuns in Belfast in the 1960s.
“This is the chance to have what happened to us on record and for many of us, where choice was part of the problem in our experiences, it is crucial that we are able to give testimony in whatever form we choose, whether oral or written,” said Cogley.
“This is the opportunity for people to tell their story in full, however they like, without being questioned or challenged. So many people are living in the shadow of shame and guilt, and it is not theirs to carry,” she said.