Mother and baby institutions and Magdalene Laundries: Putting victims-survivors at the heart of truth recovery

The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland have excavated many historical institutional abuses. Motivated by public outcries following revelations about Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Institutions, the government in the Republic of Ireland launched separate investigations on these institutions. The results were met with numerous criticisms from victims-survivors and human rights activists. This talk by Sean O’Connell, Co-chair of the Truth Recovery Independent Panel, explores the major reason for their failings.

It offers a comparison of those investigations with the equivalent research in Northern Ireland, which has put victim-survivors at the centre of the Report on Mother & Baby Homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland (2021), an approach that continues in the work of the Truth Recovery Independent Panel, which is laying the foundations for a Public Inquiry on these institutions in Northern Ireland.