Dr. Maeve O'Rourke

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41 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 21 Jul

Dr. Maeve O'Rourke’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 1.

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The Last Word with Matt Cooper · 'Testimony' Documentary Explores Magdalene Laundries Abuse · 21 Jul 2026 podcast

It's now a road and an industrial estate.

But 60 acres of that is still in private ownership.

Of course, the problem and I suppose the reason for such extensive abuse was that the care, quote unquote, of the

women and girls and children was privatised and the state didn't exercise proper supervision in the past.

And now these lands and these institutional buildings are still in private hands and are being used for, you know, in the case of Bessborough development and for commercial gain, I suppose.

But whatever about that in the proper circumstances, it's being done while

859 babies whereabouts are unknown and 19 of the mothers who died there as well, their whereabouts are unknown.

So the state did not properly investigate the whereabouts of these hundreds and hundreds of babies.

The Mother and Baby Homes Commission

actually didn't do any geophysical surveys of the Bessborough site, those 60 acres that are still there, or any test trenching.

And yet the government, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Children are saying we've done an extensive investigation and now it's just in the hands of planners.

But actually, there is definitely a growing public movement demanding a CPO of the remaining site.

Absolutely.

And they would be right in feeling that way.

And I think maybe the government just hasn't really grasped or wanted to grasp the complexity of the abuse and its ongoing implications and therefore the range of measures that are needed.

It's not just enough to issue a state apology and to set up a payment scheme that actually...

at the present moment, excludes most people who were born in mother and baby institutions, it's not enough to do that.

You have to also fully investigate the whereabouts of the disappeared.

You have to ensure proper health and social care for people who are now aging so that they are not re-institutionalized in nursing homes.

You actually have to ensure full family tracing is available to people and total access to records.

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