Mother and baby home horror: "There was a secret room of doomed babies who never grew up"

A doll with its mouth taped and tears drawn on its face, with a notice "1 of 800 DEAD BABIES" pinned to it, tied to the railings of the Dail in Dublin.

 A woman who spent eight years in a religious-run orphanage says she is haunted by memories of a room of “secret” babies she never saw grow up. 

The woman, who was put into Mount Carmel Industrial School in Co Westmeath when she was eight, revealed there was a special dormitory in the building that none of the girls was allowed enter.

 

Mountcarmel Industrial School in Moate, Co Westmeath

  But speaking exclusively to the Irish Mirror, the Co Offaly native, 62, said the room was full of babies in cots who no one ever saw leave.

And admitting that she has been haunted by these memories for years, she admitted the Tuam buried babies scandal has left her wondering what ever became of the tots.

The mum-of-four, who now lives in Co Louth, revealed: “They were in a tiny room that we had to pass when we were going to the toilet but no one was allowed into it and there was a curtain covering the window but we all knew there were babies in there, sharing cots.

Cots lined up in a mother and baby home

  “When I was young I suppose none of it added up but it all came back to haunt me later in life because we never saw the babies leave the room, we never saw them being walked outside in prams or playing outside as toddlers and the scary thing is we never saw any of them grow up.

“I never spoke about any of my memories until a few years ago when I plucked up the courage to tell my daughter and now that these stories have come out about Tuam and the other mother-and-baby homes, I just felt I had to talk about it.

Specialist Engineers use ground probing radar at site of Tuam mass grave yesterday

  “If the government is going to start an inquiry into these institutions they need to look at Mount Carmel and all the industrial schools like it because there are a lot of unanswered questions about what really went on behind those walls.”

The woman, who asked to keep her identity private, claims she was abused from when she was eight until she turned 13 by a young priest who used to come to visit the girls in the industrial school.

Known as number 52, she also said she suffered “horrendous” physical and mental abuse at the hands of the nuns who ran Mount Carmel.

She told the Irish Mirror: “I remember when my periods started they never told me what it meant, they used to call me a dirty animal and I just feared there was something seriously wrong with me.

“I was terrified. The priest started abusing me when I was eight, he only picked certain girls to prey on and I remember I used to see his car driving into the yard and I’d just start shaking.

“To this day I still remember his number plate, it’s ingrained on my brain forever just like the memories of the babies in the secret room."

Born 20 years apart at Tuam home...both scarred and tormented by a childhood ruined by cruel nuns

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