Page 66 - Patrick Corrigan News Today

NI mother-and-baby home report to be published Published image captionThere has been a recent investigation into mother-and-baby homes in the Republic of Ireland A report into mother-and-baby homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland is expected to be published later. The Stormont-commissioned research was carried out by Queens University and Ulster University. It examined whether a public inquiry should be held into the homes. Amnesty has estimated about 7,500 women and girls gave birt...

Report on Northern Ireland mother and baby homes due to be published The Marianvale mother and baby home in Newry, Co Down Rebecca Black and David Young, PA 26 January, 2021 12:28 A report into the operation of institutions for women and babies in Northern Ireland is to be published later. The academic research on mother and baby homes and Magdalene Laundries was considered by Stormont ministers on Tuesday morning. First Minister Arlene Foster is du...

On almost every one of the 533 pages in the report on Northern Ireland’s mother and baby homes, and Magdalene laundries, there’s a story that would break your heart. Women and girls, as young as 12, who had done no wrong, treated in the most callous and inhuman fashion. Not a few dozen or a few hundred – 14,000 females were housed in these ‘institutions’ because to call them ‘homes’ is a falsehood. On countless occasions, women and girls tried to escape the Magdalene laundries but...

Stormont’s leaders are facing calls to establish a public inquiry into the institutions.

A survivor of a home for unmarried mothers and babies in Northern Ireland has called for the doors of secrecy around the institutions to be flung open.

This very day a year ago I got a phone call from the BBC in Belfast asking if I would take part in a discussion programme on Radio Ulster later in the week. On the Sunday, the show’s host Dearbhail McDonald, a couple of other panel members and I dissected current events. Two of the stories included the passing of SDLP giant Seamus Mallon and the restoration of Stormont following a so-called new deal. Every January is different in one sense, but in another the beginning of 2020 was muc...

The founder of the Belfast Multi-Cultural Association (BMCA) has said learning of a racist arson attack on the charity was like a "dagger to the heart".

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey at the scene of the fire at the Belfast Multicultural Association last week (Sinn Fein/PA) The building was being used as a food bank, with volunteers distributing packages to vulnerable people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ms Hargey told the Stormont Assembly her priority was to get the association back in the building as soon as possible. She said she was working with Belfast City Council to find a temporary home for the association and its work. She said t...

Staff at a multicultural community group whose food bank was torched in a racist attack say they have been overwhelmed by generous donations.

Donations have flooded in for the Belfast Multi-Cultural Association after its food bank in the city was gutted by fire in the hate crime attack.