Email documentation of correspondence with Steven O riordions team, also Micheál Martin TD, Mr O Keeffe and the Irish human rights commission.
Forgotten maggies- the beginning of all the lies.
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:08:35 +0100
From: gerboland
Subject: Final email re: ‘The Forgotten Maggies
To: To media and general public,
‘The Forgotten Maggies’ is being screened on Wednesday 20th July on TG4 9.30pm. Over five and half years ago I began this project and I hope that you will take the time out to watch this documentary. I hope you will see beyond the 52minute piece and see the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the making of this self funded documentary and campaign. I hope you will look beyond this as entertainment and see the reality Magdalene Women face on a daily basis in their search for justice. I have done as much as I can to help these Magdalene Women and I hope that the media and Irish society will give the Magdalene Women a real voice and let the truth be known.
RTE Guide pick of the week on Wednesday – ‘The Forgotten Maggies’
Here are some links that may be of interest.
The Forgotten Maggies’ trailer –http://youtu.be/p22_3XRZMqc
Irish Film and Tv Network –http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4284064&tpl=archnews&force=1
‘Magdalene Survivors Together’ Charity Single – http://youtu.be/zyQ8G53RAxo
Official Website –http://www.magdalenesurvivorstogether.com
regards,
Ger Boland.
From: mary collins <marycollins
To: gerboland
Sent: Sun, 24 July, 2011 15:08:51
Subject: RE: Final email re: ‘The Forgotten Maggies
Hi Ger. How are you I believe the Documentary went well to this day I haven’t had a copy of the charity single. For Legal reasons if anything is put up on website can the women’s name be blocked out on both documentaries. I have my ticket booked for september so l will see you then. Well done. Mary
From: gerard boland <gerboland>
Date: 28 July 2011 16:26:47 BST
To: mary collins <marycollins>
Subject: Re: Final email re: ‘The Forgotten Maggies
Mary, Thanks for the email. I hope you are keeping strong. The documentary went down very well and the estimate viewing figure was three hundred and sixty four thousand people on its peak!! Massive figures. I will see you in September. Steve or Maureen might have a spare cd to give you then perhaps.
Talk soon,
Ger.
From: marycollins
To: kantuckie
Subject:
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:27:34 +0000
Just a reminder of our conversation concerns about charity single not have a yearly/ print out statement given to every surviour and there families. I not part of your group this was my choice but I am part of the charity single and documenty any money that is made should be accounted for yearly. Happy new year
From: mary collins <marycollins>
Date: 23 February 2012 14:37:46 GMT
To: <gerboland>
Subject: FW:
Hi Ger
This IS what Isent to Steve Let me known when you find my tape. regards Mary
Mary got no further reply from Steven O Riordion apart from a abusive message not regarding her tape he stole, but he tried to intimidate her for speaking the truth!
Subject: Michael McLoughlin, Managing Director
To, Michael
My name is Mary Collins I live in London. I have been informed that Steve o Riordain is planing to publish a book on the Magdalene laundries which I am not happy about. I met Steve o Riordan years ago when he was doing research for his university. He came to my home and filmed me for the forgotten maggies. In the forgotten maggies he did not tell the true story of how years ago I had a services for my mum with my young children present I gave him all my records stating the state involvement in putting me into a industrial school and my mum was admitted into the laundries by a doctor. In the documentary he pretends to be fighting for the truth when he already knew the truth with the records I had. With out my permission he requested my mother medical records from the mercy hospital in cork and had them send to his house he pretended he was my son.Steve has used and abused me verbally all because I wanted the truth. I object strongly to the book, he used me for his documentary but the night of the apology in the dial the children got excluded also the dead women The children of these are living with the scars of the laundries my mum is in a mass grave in Ireland and the cork county council has given permission for her body to be exchumed I witnessed so much abuse,
Regards
Mary
The endless fight for justice – Micheál Martin TD and the human rights commission and Mr O keeffe.
Mary Collins:
Dear Mr Martin,
I was very pleased to have had the opportunity of meeting you following the meeting which took place in the Dail recently during which the Taoisach made his apology to all women who had spent time in a Magdalen laundry.
When we met , I explained to you the reason I was at the meeting . This was because my mother Angela Collins RIP had spent 27 years in the Magdalen laundry at Peacock Lane in Cork run by the Sisters of Charity. Having run away, my mother was taken to Peacock Lane by the Gardi and put directly to work in the laundry. I was two and a half years old at the time and was placed in an industrial school by the courts. My older sister, Angela RIP, was taken to the Good Shepherd Magdalen Laundry, Sundays Well , by the police aged 14 years. Sadly she committed suicide. My younger sister ,Teresa, was adopted in Cork City and went to a school directly across the road from the Peacock Lane laundry where my mother had been incarcerated . Several times my sister , Teresa, was sent across to the laundry with fellow pupils to sing to the women , completely unaware that she was actually singing to her own mother.
I was taken to visit my mother at Peacock Lane Laundry regularly from the industrial school , by train, accompanied by the matron of the home. During those hour-long visits I sat there around the table and just looked at my mother and was never allowed to touch her. My mother always had a companion with her whose name was Mary Ellen, another inmate. This went on all through my childhood until my mother died in 1988.
During each of those visits described above, the matron of the home was present and she kept kicking me and pinching me under the table while I was visiting my mother. The nuns had told her to try to get me to speak to my mother but this was impossible because my mother was drugged up. This hidden abuse by the matron went on for years.
On the way back to the industrial school on the train, the matron hit me and punched me every time and kept reminding me of the reasons that I was being taken to visit my mother. The matron said that it was to show me the state my mother was in who was classed as ‘dirty ‘and they did not want me to turn out like my mother.
On arriving back at the industrial school, I was stripped naked, pillows were put over my head, they tried to suffocate me: I was beaten senseless ; my head was bashed off walls and I was put out to sleep with the pigs for the whole night. All this was done solely because my mother was in a Magdalen laundry in Peacock Lane and because she had me out of wedlock and was a bad person.
I took my case to the Redress Board and received an award. The Board stated they could not take into consideration the abuse I suffered as a direct consequence of my mother’s incarceration in a Magdalen Laundry and of my being a child witness of it. The Solicitor who acted for me has full details of the boards decision regarding this aspect of my case.
Because the Redress Board considered that it was not within their remit to take account of the abuse I suffered because of my mother’s status, I plead with you, Mr Martin, to use any influence you have ;
1) to bring my type of case within the remit of the current Magdalen Laundry Fund and
2) that my case and that of my mother’s should be seen as indivisible
3) that I should be compensated for all the Psychological damage done to me;
4) that I should receive compensation for my mother’s slave labour and
5) for burying my poor mother in a mass grave with 73 others at St Finbarre’s Cemetery.
Over the years I have been trying to prove that the State was involved in my case , and that my abuse and that of my mother were part and parcel of each other. When I reached the age of 16 , the sister in charge of the home wrote to the Education Minister asking that I should be given an extension, purely because my mother was in Peacock Lane Magdalen laundry- this fact is on record.
Finally, over the years psychiatric reports have referred to the damage done to me seeing my mother institutionalised. The Psychiatrist who prepared my psychiatric report for the redress board stated that I was the most disturbed of all the applicants he had assessed because my abuse was intrinsically entwined with my mother’s life , behaviour and my birth. .
Thank you Mr Martin for giving me your card and for your kind words that evening ; it was a great comfort to me and I thank you in advance for any help you may be able to give me .
Yours sincerely,
Mary Collins
Micheál Martin TD:
Dear Mary,
Thank you for your email. I was very glad to have had the opportunity to meet with you in the Dáil recently and to listen to your story.
Since receiving your letter I have written to the Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, on your behalf, asking that he examine the details of your case in relation to redress.
I am currently awaiting a response from the Minister and I will be in touch again once a response has been received.
Yours sincerely,
Micheál Martin TD
Subject: FW: The Magdalen Laundry Fund,
To Whom it concerns.
My name is Mary Collins. mother Angela Collins. in the last few day I have seen very upsetting coverage of the babies and the graves in Tuam. My reason I am emailing is my mother was a single parent in the ninty sixty and we also came from a travelling back ground. It has not surprised me in the least this has happened to children why because i was nearly killed in the home because of my mother sins. You see I was stolen of my mother because we lived on the side of the road in a caravan. I was taken to a county home with my mother who escaped with me they captured her and imprisoned her in a Magdalene laundries for twenty seven years. Al do I was taken of her I spent most of my childhood going to see her I visited these laundries and was abused treated like a dog. True out my childhood no one ever touched. me because of who I was Iwent to Dublin last year and sat with the nun who is in a hospice she remembered me. I requested for my mother to be exhumed she in a mass grave I want her to be buried in her own home town, She promised to get back to me, I was also in the dial the night the government apology[ to the women he left the children out. I came back to London angry. I would also like the redress board claim opened up why because I was not compensated for the abuse I suffered over my mother and visiting the laundries as a child.also the nuns placed her in a mass grave knowing to well she had children all my human rights have been taken away from me. If I visit the grave the suffering of my mum is there, I should be compensated for the years my mum worked in the laundries plus the emotional damage it has done to me seeing these women. All over the yeaSr I had my records and no one believed me. Iam asking for my redress board claim to be re opened and be compensated for all of this. I lost my big sister she died on Christmas day suicide why because she was put in a Magdalene laundry at the age of sixteen. I will be complaining to the united nation. I also want the women who abused me and many children to be extradited back from america to stand trial for the torture she committed on to me the irish government allowed her to go to america even when children complained to the redress board regarding her, this email is from some in the Irish eyes is the lowest and dirtestest person in life. The Irish government has left me down also the traveling families.
From Micheál Martin TD Subject: Re: The Magdalen Laundry Fund,
Dear Mary,
I am emailing to follow up on our correspondence of March 11th in relation to your concerns regarding your experience of residential institutions in Ireland and redress.
Having written to the Minister on your behalf, I received a response today which I attach for your reference. In his letter, the Minister outlines that deciding the scope of the redress scheme does not fall within his remit. He advises that Mr. John Quirke, President of the Law Reform Commission has been requested to report on the establishment of the scheme and its parameters. He outlines also that the Government has decided that the redress scheme will not be extended to the families of former institutional residents who are now deceased.
Yours sincerely,
Micheál Martin TD
Subject: MY MOTHER
Dear mr o keeffe
I am writing to ask if we could meet to share my sad exeperiences wth you regarding my mum and sister who spent time in the laundrys.My mother and l were admitted in to midleton hospital l was sent to a childrens home and my mum was sent by a doctor to the laundries for twenty seven years .My big sister was sent to another laundry at the age of fourteen and spent three years there sadly She took her life my younger sister was adopted.My mother was forced to sign the adopting papers in exchange for me to go and see her when l was aged seven. l live with the pain l went true over having a mother in the laundries.lt make me sad to hear people disrespecting these women whose lives where taken away from them.You see my sixteen year old son was dignosied with a rare disorder and needeed a bone marrow transplant this time last year and it was the first time l had any feeling for my mum as l know it must of been hard for her to have lost her children l knew they were no bodies growing up and they are still been treated that way. l have alot of hurt in side me and its made worse because no one will say sorry If some one hurt your family sorry would help the healing/Look forward to a reply my phone number is ******** london YOURS SINCERLY M COLLINS.
Subject: RE: Letter from the Irish Human Rights Commission
My mother, Angela Collins, worked, lived, and died at the age of 57 in a Magdalene Laundry in Peacock Lane, Cork, on January 27, 1988. She was admitted there on the word of a doctor and her children were taken from her and sent to various institutions.
When she died, she was buried in a lage communal grave in Cork with 72 other women from the Peacock Lane Laundry. (I and my three children have since erected a separate, memorial plaque in her honour.)
I, Mary Collins, am Angela Collins’ daughter and I want recognition from the Irish Government for my mother and for what happened to her family. I have given all the details of my case to the Irish Government’s inquiry into theMagdalene Laundries at a meeting with Justice Minister Alan Shatter in September 2011.
But now I am gravely concerned that my mother’s case will not be included in this inquiry and I wish to intervene to make sure that it is included before the final report is issued, probably before the end of the year.
I believe it will be too late to intervene after the report is issued and I am seeking your help in intervening to pursue my mother’s case to ensure that she is included. In her life she suffered so much because the State failed to act to ensure her freedom and dignity and welfare and that of her family. This timethe Irish State must not ignore her again. I have been fighting over many years for such recognition for her.
I am seeking your help so that this final effort will succeed and her life, her suffering and her death will be acknowledged in the Irish Government’s report. It is also important to note that we were a Traveller family and because of that I believe we suffered and were maltreated even more. Therefore I believe it is especially incumbent on the Irish Governmnet to ensure justice for my mother.
From Irish human rights:
Dear Ms Collins,
I refer to your recent e-mail of 1 June 2012 in relation to your concerns about the fact that your mother was in a Magdalene Laundry.
In order to be of assistance, I thought it would be helpful if I were to briefly outline the two functions of this Commission, as governed by the provisions of the Human Rights Commission Act, 2000 (the Act), which may be of particular relevance when persons contact the Commission with their concerns. These are:
(1) the Commission’s Enquiry Function – any person can request, under section 9(1)(b) of the Act, that the Commission conduct an enquiry into a relevant human rights matter, and/ or;
(2) the Commission’s Legal Assistance Function – any person can apply, under section 10 of the Act, to the Commission for assistance in connection with legal proceedings involving issues of human rights.
For your further information, a copy of the Act together with a copy of our Information Note Regarding Requests for an Enquiry and Applications for Assistance in Connection with Legal Proceedings, which provides more detail on how these functions operate, are available on our website (www.ihrc.ie). I trust these documents are of assistance to you. It should be noted that there is no entitlement to have an enquiry request or an assistance application granted by the Commission. Such decisions are within the discretion of the Commission.
It is important to note that the Commission is not a court and cannot operate as an adjudicatory body in respect of a complaint of a human rights violation. The Commission does not have the power to overturn court or tribunal decisions, or to award remedies or compensation to people.
In order to assist the Commission in considering the matter, it would be helpful if you could advise the Commission on several preliminary points:-
i. Can you please set out in detail your mother’s history in a Magdalene Laundry (the name of the laundry, how she entered, why she remained in the laundry and when she died, your contact with your mother during, where your Mother is buried and whether you have a death certificate for her, any dealings you have had with the religious order concerned, and any other details that are relevant);
ii. Can you please give an account of your own life experience (where you were born, how you were separated from your mother, when were you placed in an industrial school and the name of the school, what contact you had with your mother during her life, any relevant details in relation to your Father, details of any siblings, and any other details you consider relevant);
iii. Please indicate what outcome you are seeking in contacting the Commission;
iv. Please advise if you ever spent time in a Magdalene Laundry, and if so please provide details;
v. whether your request to the Commission is that it conduct an enquiry into the matter (please specify the precise subject matter to which any enquiry request relates);
vi. whether your request to the Commission is that it grant assistance in connection with legal proceedings in respect of the matter (please specify the precise subject matter of any contemplated legal proceedings);
There is an important issue that you may wish to note before making an enquiry request or application for assistance. At present, the Minister for Justice, Equality & Defence is preparing draft legislation to provide for the merger of this Commission with the Equality Authority into a single statutory body. This new body will likely be called the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. As the draft legislation has not yet been published, we are unclear as to the exact details of the merger and as to when this new body will be established. What is clear is that this Commission will cease to exist in its current form.
Unfortunately, as we need to give priority to the considerable number of enquiry requests and legal assistance applications we have pending at the present time, we cannot give you any assurance that, if you were to make a request or application, the Commission would be in a position to make a decision on same prior to the merger taking place or indeed thereafter.
The Commission sincerely regrets any inconvenience this current situation may cause for you.
I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience. Please feel free to telephone me on ******* to discuss the matter further, should you so wish.
Yours sincerely, sinead. Human Rights Commission
From Mary:
Dear Sinead.
Thanks for your reply this is the information you requested.My mum Angela Collins and her three children were kidnapped from the irish travelling community by a doctor at Middleton hospital. In a report it say she went in the most horrendous weather to tuam without any money she was brought back and commited to a laundry for life his name was doctor Mc Carthy who is dead Mother Angela Collins Admitted with MARY Collins on the 4th of January to midelton home in 1963 transferred to st of chartiy saint Vincent convent st Mary road peacock lane co cork. Daughter Mary was seperated from her mother given to the court Mary went to sacred heart school rushbrooke on 5/11963 she never say her mother again untill the mercy nuns and sisters if charity broke the court order and made me visit my mum at the age of seven I was abused physical and emotionally every time I visted the laundries they locked me out with the pigs and the black cat as I was the lowest in life because of my travelling background. Angela died on the 27/01/1988 from ovarion cancer she was made work while she was ill her blood count were only 9 in her medical records i have the hospital doctor recommend she have her womb and ovaries removed because of the blood loss which never happened she is buried in a communal grave st Finbars cementary co cork with 72 other women over thirteen years ago I returned to Ireland to find my mums grave contacted the sister of charity to have my mum exhumed from the grave this request was refused so they allowed me to put a head stone and have a service for her . .My mum had three child one of my sisters was adopted the other was fourteen years old she went to a good sherpeds in cork up the road from her mum she spend two years but commited suicide years later she never got to see her mum are her sisters again.I would like the commission to investigate Angela stay in the laundries why she was made to work when she was so weak her medical records can be obtained from the mercy hospital cork her Doctor was DR Dermot Gleeson convent view St Mary Road co cork he neglected my mum health. the ispcc Middleton hospital .How they took away my rights to my family how When I went to the redress board with my solictor Michel lanigan I was told in front of him there was no redress for the emotional suffering i endured visiting this laundry seen my mum drugged up and been treated like a nobody in life the award I was given has not been touched as it has not included all my suffering. . This has effected my life in everyway they took away my right to visit my mum in the grave yard without the permanent reminder of her suffering lying in a mass grave especially when the nuns knew she had living family.I want the commision to grand me assistance in connection to legal procudure for the loss of my family compensation for all of the suffering and what they did to my mum and sisters Please help me to make the goverment listen and they tell the truth about the laundries. I I would like to take a civil case against the laundries the Irish state stole the travellers children of them. I have all the information this is painful but im very angry as the truth has not been told. Over the years I have seen ministers reported the abuse to the police. I will never rest until the whole truth is told about my family.Please contact me if you need more information. The Mercy nuns sisters of charity and good sheperd were all one. Kind Regard Mary
Subject: Re: FW: The Magdalen Laundry Fund,
Dear Ms Collins,
On behalf of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. James Reilly TD, I wish to acknowledge and thank you for your correspondence in relation to the Terms of Reference for the proposed Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.
Consideration of the broad range of views expressed in the process of engagement and dialogue undertaken to date will assist in achieving the widest possible consensus in the establishment of this Commission of Investigation. The Minister has publicly stated his commitment to establishing an investigation which is capable of effectively addressing these important matters in a sensitive and timely manner.
The period of open consultation and the call for written submissions to inform the initial scoping work of the Inter-Departmental Working Group came to an end with the publication of the Group’s report on the 16th July. The large volume of written submissions received by the Department will form part of the careful deliberations as the Government finalises arrangements for the Commission.
The Minister recently announced that Judge Yvonne Murphy has agreed to Chair the Commission.It is intended to pass all the submissions received to date onto the Commission for its consideration. Should you not wish to have your submission passed onto Judge Murphy then please e-mail: motherandbabyhomes@dcya.gov.ie before 15th August 2014 to notify us of this preference. The Department will request the Commission to treat your submission, and any personal information contained therein, with the appropriate level of confidentiality in accordance with data protection legislation.
The Commission will be the means by which we can bring a true and clear picture of this part of our history into full public view. Accordingly, the Minister is anxious that the Commission be established with the requisite care and attention. There are challenges inherent in this task but the Government is committed to establishing an effective investigation process to face up to our past where not all mothers and their children were cherished equally and, most importantly, to learn from it.
Further information regarding the Commission of Investigation, including the Report of the Inter-Departmental Group, is available on our website athttp://www.dcya.gov.ie. Information regarding the helpline services available to those affected by the recent revelations regarding Mother and Baby Homes and other Institutions, and contact details to assist those seeking adoption information and tracing information, are also available at this web address.
Yours sincerely Liam Preston
Mother and Baby Homes Investigation
Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Steven O Riordion used Mary’s information and exculed her in the trailer but had the audacity to use her mums grave at the end of it. Steven O Riordion has used many women, you can find out more about the injustices his had caused at:
https://justice4allmags.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/93/
The link to the trailer:https://www.facebook.com/marycollins.collins.7/posts/1616765215267186
When will the past be left the past for these women, why at the aged Mary is, is she still fighting for what is right on behalf of herself, mum and children! Ireland truly is shameful! Give the women justice and let them live the rest of their life’s in peace!
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