Survivors of abuse in Protestant homes have still been ignored by the Irish government

A letter from Derek Linster:
Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

Following the report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and the Taoiseach Micheal Martin’s confirmation since January 12, the survivors of abuse, adoption etc would in future be able to obtain their personal records, Protestant survivors were optimistic that things had finally changed.

Retrieval of personal records has been a major problem with the Irish state and Protestant church agencies appearing to be working to prevent this from happening.

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We have recently found out that ‘Here2Help Tracking’, the go to organisation to help Protestant survivors obtain their records was closed in June 2020 due to lack of government funding and arrangements for the Adoption Agency of Ireland (AAI) to offer this service have not been put in place.

It appears that the sectarian sins of the past have not been exorcised and the Taoiseach was only talking about Catholic survivors, not Protestant ones. When one is aged in their 80s or in their 90s you do not want to heare this after a lifetime of it.

Derek Linster, (Survivor of abuse at a Protestant Bethany Home) Warwickshire

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A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

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