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The Site of a Graveyard for Children who Died in the Tuam Mother and Babies Home, Co Galway, Ireland |
Proposed History Seminar on Tuam Mother and Baby Home
On Sunday 30 August I was due to speak at a History Seminar arranged in the leadup to the presentation to Government of the final Report on Mother and Baby Homes - scheduled for 30 October 2020. The seminar was due to be held in the University Church on St Stephen's Green, Dublin. The particular focus of our talks is the Home operated by the Bon Secours Sisters in Tuam, Co Galway from 1924 to 1961. The Tuam home is only one of 18 such being examined by the Commission of Investigation chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy BUT it was the world-wide publication of atrocity stories about the Bon Secours Sisters in 2014 that sparked the creation of the Commission. I have referred to these stories in the course of my three previous articles on The Tuam Babies and the Bon Secours Nuns {link is to number [3]} One illustration will suffice here (from an article by Brendan O'Neill)
A hysterical piece in the Irish Independent compared the Tuam home to the Nazi Holocaust, Rwanda and Srebrenica, saying that in all these settings people were killed ‘because they were scum’My own topic was to be “False allegations of child abuse against the Catholic Church, including homicide". This talk would be based on my June 2018 blog article Blood Libel in Ireland - directed against Catholics not Jews! but updated in line with the atrocity stories relating to Tuam. I had thought that Ireland's Blood Libel scandal had ended in 2010 when a Garda inquiry told the then Minister for Justice that there was no evidence to link the Catholic Church to the murder of the child Bernadette Connolly in 1970. However it seems that I was premature!
Cancellation of Seminar - by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin?
At about 2.30 pm on Thursday 27th August, the person in charge of the booking arrangements for the University Church rang our own organiser Brian Nugent to inform him that the Church had cancelled the booking. This person did not say why or who exactly instructed him to do that. Brian told us that he was amazed that while we, as the speakers and organisers, were not told anything very much about why the venue cancelled it was nonetheless prominently reported in the Irish Times on the same day (see below). Brian told us that it is clear from the Irish Times report that the Archdiocese cancelled it, maybe under pressure from the government, or maybe because the subject matter was disagreeable to them?
Brian went on to tell us that - as regards whether or not we are within government health guidelines - he had twice, cleared the event with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), via their helpline, which is the main Government information source on the Covid regulations. He tried but couldn't get that advice in writing. However he noticed that the Irish Times itself, on the front page of its edition the previous Saturday (22 August) stated in reference to the current in force guidelines
Since late June, indoor gatherings have been restricted to 50 people under the Government public health controls. Further restrictions announced this week identified only weddings and artistic and cultural events as being allowed to have groups of up to 50.
Our Seminar arrangements are clearly within that 50 limit, and that's what the HSE confirmed to Brian.
So why on earth would Archbishop Diarmuid Martin insist on the cancellation of an event that was approved by the HSE and was defending the Catholic Church against false allegations of child abuse - up to and including Homicide? I have a detailed article on the Archbishop on my old website (not Blog) www.IrishSalem.com that may explain a lot! (He is the Irish Catholic equivalent of Hewlett Johnson the late unlamented "Red Dean" of Canterbury - but at least the latter never made it to Archbishop!)
Article in Irish Times by Patsy McGarry
Seminar in Dublin Church on Tuam Children’s Home Cancelled due to Covid-19
Topics included ‘False allegations of child abuse against the Catholic Church, including homicide’
Irish Times 27 August 2020, by Patsy McGarry
A “history seminar” challenging findings of various Commissions of Inquiry into child abuse and planned for Dublin’s University Church on Stephen’s Green next Sunday has been cancelled.
Advertised as a history seminar “with particular reference to the Tuam Children’s Home” likely attendees had been advised to “arrive early as numbers are restricted due to Government Covid-19 restrictions.”
A spokeswoman for Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese said staff at the University Church had “confirmed that the event due to take place this Sunday has been cancelled. Current Government guidance permitting people to gather at places of worship is for religious services only. No other gatherings are permitted.”
The theme of the seminar was: “Do modern Irish historians exaggerate the role of the Catholic Church in independent Ireland” and speakers scheduled to take part included Brian Nugent, author of the book @Tuambabies: A critical look at the Tuam Children’s Home Scandal.
It challenges findings of local historian Catherine Corless concerning the Tuam Mother and Baby Home and those made there by the Mother and Baby Home Commission, published in its March 2017 interim report.
It found that “significant quantities of human remains” had been discovered there, in what appeared to be a sewage tank. The remains involved “a number of individuals with age-at-death ranges from approximately 35 foetal weeks to two to three years,” it said.
Mr Nugent was to speak on “Did home rule equal Rome rule in independent Ireland?”
Another scheduled speaker was Eugene Jordan, author of False History Underpinning the Irish Mother and Baby Home Scandals. He was to give a talk on “The Tuam Children’s Home story, a failure of modern Irish historiography.”
The third scheduled speaker was Rory Connor, described as an “expert on various Commissions and Inquiries” as well as author of the irishsalem blogspot.com website. He was to speak on “False allegations of child abuse against the Catholic Church, including homicide”.
Topics included ‘False allegations of child abuse against the Catholic Church, including homicide’
Irish Times 27 August 2020, by Patsy McGarry
A “history seminar” challenging findings of various Commissions of Inquiry into child abuse and planned for Dublin’s University Church on Stephen’s Green next Sunday has been cancelled.
Advertised as a history seminar “with particular reference to the Tuam Children’s Home” likely attendees had been advised to “arrive early as numbers are restricted due to Government Covid-19 restrictions.”
A spokeswoman for Dublin’s Catholic archdiocese said staff at the University Church had “confirmed that the event due to take place this Sunday has been cancelled. Current Government guidance permitting people to gather at places of worship is for religious services only. No other gatherings are permitted.”
The theme of the seminar was: “Do modern Irish historians exaggerate the role of the Catholic Church in independent Ireland” and speakers scheduled to take part included Brian Nugent, author of the book @Tuambabies: A critical look at the Tuam Children’s Home Scandal.
It challenges findings of local historian Catherine Corless concerning the Tuam Mother and Baby Home and those made there by the Mother and Baby Home Commission, published in its March 2017 interim report.
It found that “significant quantities of human remains” had been discovered there, in what appeared to be a sewage tank. The remains involved “a number of individuals with age-at-death ranges from approximately 35 foetal weeks to two to three years,” it said.
Mr Nugent was to speak on “Did home rule equal Rome rule in independent Ireland?”
Another scheduled speaker was Eugene Jordan, author of False History Underpinning the Irish Mother and Baby Home Scandals. He was to give a talk on “The Tuam Children’s Home story, a failure of modern Irish historiography.”
The third scheduled speaker was Rory Connor, described as an “expert on various Commissions and Inquiries” as well as author of the irishsalem blogspot.com website. He was to speak on “False allegations of child abuse against the Catholic Church, including homicide”.
Rescheduled Seminar
We managed to hold the Seminar in Galway on 4 October 2020 with the help of www.CatholicArena . Links to videos of the talks are here "Seminar on Tuam Children's Home (Online) - Transferred to Galway"
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