Sir, – The Dáil vote to seal the archives of the Mother and Baby Home Commission protects the reputation of the clergy, the judiciary, the political establishment, the medical profession, the families complicit in sending their women to these homes, and the men who impregnated the unfortunates who endured these State-sponsored institutions.
As an adoptee, I have, throughout my five decades, been treated as a “different” class of Irish citizen. Initially denied my full birth certificate, denied a public service card (unless I paid a fee to obtain an adoption certificate, despite holding an Irish passport), denied my adoption records, and denied my familial medical history.
The decision to lock away the grubby facts surrounding the findings for another 30 years is yet another patronising blow to those affected.
They were stripped of a voice and a choice in the past. Sadly this is still the case in 2020. – Yours, etc,
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C PRIESTLEY ,
Naas,
Co Kildare.