Those who experienced life in workhouses and Magdalene laundries also tell their stories.
Some women said they had been detained against their will, were used as unpaid labour and had to give up babies for adoption.There were several mother-and-baby homes in Northern Ireland, such as Marianvale in Newry Five are testimonies from the children of birth mothers, one from another relative and five from "other observers" of the institutions.
An introduction to the transcripts said that a "range of contrasting and complex testimonies" had been collected. "The latter included a range of details, spanning regimental institutional regimes that imposed cleaning chores on heavily pregnant women through to, in a very small number of cases, more serious allegations of sexual abuse."For instance, a mother referred to as LC was sent to a Good Shepherd mother-and-baby home when she became pregnant, aged 17.
Source: Real Estate Daily Report (realestatedailyreport.net)