51 years today since Dad and our late Mum adopted me and my twin
@ettaverma
and we still get a message first thing this morning to say how much he loves us and is proud of us and remembers this special day now over half a century ago ❤️
Dad is 75 with a number of underlying health issues so is not venturing out in case he is exposed to the virus. He just emailed his grocery list which we’ll pick up shortly. Love the last item ❤️
Having a drink with Matt tonight, he's my 91 year old father in law. Hadn't really asked him about
#8thref
until we had all voted as he is a daily mass goer.
"I thought a lot Sam. I went for
#YES
. Our girls shouldn't be sent away"
#proud
#IVotedYes
#Together4Yes
Almost hard to comprehend but today I’ll be reading a third state report on institutions where our birth mother was incarcerated for 49 of her 51 years until her death in 2003. The Ryan Report, The McAleese Report and now the
#motherandbabyhomes
report. What a life. RIP Margaret
I just want to thank everyone for recognising Margaret and Anne, my biological mother and grandmother. I am eternally grateful to you all for listening and hearing and to
@anneeroper
for the telling. Night night
#NoCountryForWomen
#nocountry
Our Mum Anne who adopted us with our Dad Eamonn would be turning 78 tomorrow if she was still with us. She died suddenly in 1999 aged 54 and I miss her still. She looks like Dusty Springfield in this photo ❤️
“She was brilliant, she loved bright colours and she always helped me when I was stuck”. So very sad to hear
#AshlingMurphy
‘s 11 year old former student sobbing her words out. Teachers mean the world to their young students
Delighted to represent our mother Margaret Bullen RIP at
#DublinHonoursMagdalenes
in the Mansion House this evening. She toiled in Sean McDermott St laundry for 36 years
Our daughter Joni has chosen Flora as her confirmation name for tomorrow’s ceremony. St Flora is a French patron saint of the abandoned, Joni googled the saints months ago and chose Flora with the homeless in mind. Whatever you believe or not that’s a nice sentiment
Correct decision but why was a high profile presenter who “retired” from
@RTERadio1
with fanfare in May about to be awarded a new prime time slot? How does new talent ever break through during tough times for journalists?
Might sound small but I had already planned to get up early on Tuesday, walk, eat well, get on top of my work so that I could be at my physical & mental best prior to the
#motherandbabyhomes
webinar with
@MichealMartinTD
&
@rodericogorman
- today’s leak and story is horrible 2/2
Our birth mother was in several institutions for 49 of her 51 years from age 2. Industrial schools, a Magdalene Laundry and a Mother & Baby Home followed again by Magdalene Laundry until she died. I read the Ryan report over 10 years ago. Not looking forward to this next chapter
6th class daughter and friends allowed to bring in a cosy blanket each tomorrow for a Friday movie (because the windows are open). Thanks teacher, every little treat helps them these days ❤️
This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.
Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.
If you remain generous,
Time will come good (poet John O’Donohue)
Wish to express my thanks to all of you for your humbling support this week & since 2003. Tired now but hopeful having mentioned to
@rodericogorman
tonight that delivering on
#motherandbabyhomes
could become his true legacy. Focussing on my family & work again from tomorrow 🙏
I am so proud to have been a part of
#irelandsdirtylaundry
which airs on
@RTEOne
at 9.35pm. Part 1 tonight features so many survivors I admire. Part 2 next Wednesday features more of the story of our birth mother Margaret who didn’t make it and the impacts on me and
@ettaverma
So many of us who were stoically counting down the days to the release of the
#motherandbabyhomes
report have yet again had our agency trampled upon by this leak and story in the Sunday Independent. 1/2
Watching the
#LateLate
back on recordings. Love Michael Flatley. When I was a trainee manager in The Westbury in the early 90s he was a long term guest. He heard that my Mum was ill in hospital and sent flowers also tickets to the show for when she was better ❤️
The No. 18 bus will be no more after next week. Feeling very wistful for a route I’ve been using for 34 years, the last few to visit my Dad in Sandymount on Sundays
Have to admit I shed a tear as the Father of the House
@EndaKennyTD
said farewell in the canteen this morning after 44 years of service. Congratulations and best wishes to you and family Enda
Feeling terrible sadness for those telling their stories on
#RTEInvestigates
tonight. Have known forever that I was Teresa for the first 9 months of my life & that my adoptive parents were not my birth parents. Unavoidable pain resulting from secrecy and shame in modern Ireland
So many people queueing to buy Christmas wreaths and flowers outside Mount Jerome. Thinking of everyone who is missing a loved one at this time of year and hope you have a good Christmas 🕯
Thank you to all who supported survivors in the
#MotherAndBabyHomes
votes tonight in the
#D
áil. As a baby who spent 9 months in a home I’ll never understand why I am treated more favourably than a fellow citizen who spent less than 6 months. Early days last forever
#tonightvmtv
Thanks everyone for your support after
#Liveline
interview on the Magdalene Laundries.Many people have campaigned on this issue and I'm very grateful. Please tweet your support and let Minister
@josephamadigan
know you want a
#MemorialForMagdalenes
- pls RT to get it trending
An extremely admirable interview especially for one who doesn’t feel the need to parade his family’s private life. Sharing their story might give hope to others in pain. Micheál Martin: ‘You will always say you have the kids you lost’
via
@IrishTimes
#IrelandsDirtyLaundry
airs shortly on
@RTEOne
. Me and my twin sister
@ettaverma
recount the deeper story of our birth mother Margaret’s life, and ours. Margaret wasn’t a survivor because she died behind those high walls after 49 years inside. Rest in peace
Couple of things crossed my mind today. Friday pensioners at the post office paying €10 off the ESB/gas and €5 off the TV licence. Less importantly the times I declined RTE taxis after interviews because it felt extravagant and I have a Leap card
#RTE
This is my dear father-in-law Matt Long who was laid to rest today aged 92. Beautiful photo on the front of his mass booklet taken by my husband Derrick
@DublinGuitarist
at North Bull Island a couple of years ago
I am very happy that Adam has been given a date for his scoliosis surgery but hate the fact that going public in the media is what it took. Not everyone has the toolkit to do that. In the same way as you shouldn’t have to go on Liveline to get a housing allocation
#todaycb
In the mid 1950s someone called to the door of my Dad’s house and told his mother he was going to Artane “for breaking every street light in Crumlin”. He hadn’t. Nana kept her foot in the door so that the “inspector” couldn’t take him.
#landwithoutgod
Catch up on The News every evening from 13 year old daughter. Her news today: top quality free period products now in baskets in her school bathrooms. Said “you don’t even have to ask or be stuck”. Also said how everyone so glad and wouldn’t take unless they needed them.
I was on the pier aged 7 in Mullaghmore that August 1979 day. I will never forget the scenes of panic on the shore as my parents realised what had happened in our local sleepy seaside idyll. We weren’t a political family
#mcguinness
Huge team effort to surprise Senator David Norris today as the first ever portrait of a sitting member was hung in Leinster House. I was the lucky girl who got to present him with his
#pride
themed flowers on
#Bloomsday
- thanks to Mags in Baggot Street for her beautiful creation
I walked away from the Catholic church some years ago. Not because of my Magdalene birth mother’s incarceration for 49 years but because of the church’s horrible sexual abuse of children and consequent cover up
#tonighttv3
Warm thanks to all who have been in touch tonight following
@anneeroper
documentary
#NoCountryforWomen
#nocountry
Yes it is tough viewing. Yes it was awful. Yes we must change things for the better for women and their families. Your support is so important - thank you so much
51 years today since Dad and our late Mum adopted me and my twin
@ettaverma
and we still get a message first thing this morning to say how much he loves us and is proud of us and remembers this special day now over half a century ago ❤️
My Dad just finished this large project on his wall as a personal challenge over a couple of weeks. Totally freehand with ordinary paints and small brushes. Very proud of him…
p.s He is 75 years old and lives with
#Parkinsons
Warning: Almost €2K fraudulently debited from my bank account in last 24 hours by hackers who used my card details to make payments to various Facebook accounts. Horrible theft of my holiday savings but BOI fraud team very helpful so hoping for a refund. Check your accounts!
Just left Majella’s house where I was honoured to be part of a group of friends there to support her while listening to her
#doconone
- old Ireland is very recent indeed and I hope that she will receive an apology & compensation for having to leave the Garda career she loved
I am honoured to be appointed with others today by Minister
@KZapponeTD
to a Collaborative Forum on Mother and Baby Homes - press release below. I intend to serve and contribute constructively so that we can properly look back and look forward
Visited Glasnevin today where Margaret is buried in the Magdalene plot. In May ‘95, my twin sister
@ettaverma
and I met our birth mother in the Gresham with our joint social worker, our Mam and Dad and my boyfriend now husband. 23 years since she’d seen her twins
#mothersday2020
Big personnel changes in the 26th Seanad. As a member of the political staff I am so grateful that my employing member has been re-elected and has offered a new contract as we’re not civil servants. Thinking of all my dear colleagues who have lost their jobs
#Seanad2020
49 years ago today, my twin sis
@SamanthaELong
and I were adopted out of the Navan Road Mother and Baby Home. This morning I pointed out to her that this is my view on the way to work and she works in the Oireachtas. Not what the nuns imagined we could do, I’m sure.
Pls RT: As of last night the majority of my posters & cable ties were down. This morning two of my posters which were stolen during the campaign have been re-erected at KCR with black cable ties. Mine were all white. Criminal offence and mean-spirited. Reporting to
@GardaTraffic
Our daughter Joni (9) convinced me to buy a full watermelon last week. She asked for another slice from the fridge to cool down before bed tonight. Imagine living in an emergency hotel room with your children in this heat and without a fridge. No, neither could I
Still processing the experience at the Mansion House last night. Thank you to everyone there and everyone here on
@Twitter
for your astounding support for the survivors and those who didn't survive. My dear twin sis
@ettaverma
in NYC also very grateful
#DublinHonoursMagdalenes
Positive news coming out tonight. I commend all campaigners in being heard. As a Magdalene/M&B homes baby I was involved in an active way for many years from 2003. Stood back in recent years for my own family. Thinking of the dead and the living tonight x
20 years ago my beloved adoptive Mum Anne had a brain hemorrhage on the Wednesday of Easter week. She was 54. On Good Friday she woke from her coma briefly to see us. Her only wish was for new sandals for the summer. She died on Easter Monday but that simplicity still comforts me
21 years married today. Derrick found some great photos clearing out the attic this week for a secondary school bedroom renovation for our Joni aged 12. She loves this photo of me reading my wedding speech while I was getting ready that morning ❤️
@DublinGuitarist
Awww shucks - thanks all the chefs and catering staff for surprising me with this and singing Happy Birthday to me after my lunch in the canteen just now 🎂 🎉
Even in dark days love prevails. In Tesco Express this evening a young guy carrying two huge silver helium 18th birthday balloons was paying for a chocolate cake and a bunch of pink roses. His Revolut was declined. He had to add money on the app. The queue didn’t mind waiting ❤️
Thanks
@gracedyas
you are a role model for our daughters. Ours is eight and I think this shift in the universe means that she is much less likely to be harassed
#CBLive
24 years today since I married the wonderful Derrick. My Dad took this photo while I was getting ready that morning. I was finalising my speech in tribute in particular to my beloved adoptive Mum Anne who had died suddenly a few months earlier. A very happy day but we missed Mum
Our son’s first time to vote today. 20 year old apprentice electrician. Phoned me this morning to check whether he’d need to bring passport. But not asking how to vote, said he and 19-21 year old apprentice friends voting No-No “for our Mams”
#VoteNoNo
Putting yourself out there can be nervy, particularly for women. I want to serve on Dublin City Council and hope to make it happen with your help. Thanks to photographer
@Julienbehal
for putting me at my ease at home so that I look like myself on
#le19
I think that
@NFitzPsychology
will help a lot of people tonight who are dealing with loss. Very touching and real insights. After Mam died suddenly I took her lipstick from her handbag and kept it in mine for over a year
#latelate
I saw one of the Catering Assistants from James’s on the news earlier. On Christmas Day last year she knew *exactly* what my 92 year old father in law would like for dinner also gave us tea and sambos. I support the workers
#tonightvmtv
Almost twenty years on I still miss Mum at this time of year. I'll be wearing her favourite "good" earrings for the next few days so she'll be with us at Christmas
Watching Mary Banotti on
@RTEOne
@rtepolitics
- at the count centre last night I said hello as she walked through. She recognised me then spent the next 10 minutes sitting beside me for a one to one about winning and losing. Extremely kind of her
#LE19
A mistake for
@AlanFarrell
to say that a motion on eviction ban is “a two hour press release”. That sort of smug cynicism belies the worries of people worrying about where they’ll be next month, most of whom don’t get the meaning of motions vs Bills. They need hope.
#TonightVMTV
Wasn’t thrilled to hear of a longer lockdown on the Brendan O’Connor show but it was good to hear the Taoiseach
@MichealMartinTD
levelling with us. Prefer that approach rather than kite-flying or guesswork. Need for an update like this every week and urgently on Leaving Cert
20 years ago I was in the position of consenting medics to not resuscitate my beloved 54 year old adoptive mum Anne after her brain haemorrhage. Nobody ever called me a murderer or a woman killer. This debate is so low but Theo Dorgan is extremely admirable
#tonighttv3
My mother was Magdalene Number 322
Real name Margaret
Margaret was committed to industrial school in 1954, age, two years and four months.
She left 49 years later in a coffin
Samantha Long
@SamanthaELong
#MargaretBullenRIP
#irelandsdirtylaundry
So so sad. In 2016 our son had a 6th class graduation ceremony from primary school. A letter was read out from Aoife. She wished the students their best life and told them to love their friends and keep them close. He will be 18 next week and still remembers her and her message
This is painfully sad news. RIP Aoife. Deepest sympathy to the Beary family and Aoife’s friends. What a brave battle she fought. Thinking of all the Berkeley families today..💔
There aren't enough words to describe Emma and she will never ever be forgotten by the people of Ireland. Tearfully thinking of her family tonight especially her beautiful children. I hope they have inherited their mother's strength
#RIPEmmaMhicMhathuna
I have visited High Park where our birth mother Margaret grew up as a child. Also the Magdalene Laundry in Sean McDermott Street where she spent most of her life after being impregnated behind the high walls. We are glad to be her daughters, but not for her story
#rteinvestigates
That’s a wrap! Here’s to all who’ve welcomed us over the last 11 weeks. I’ve loved it. Whatever the outcome it has been a pleasure to listen and learn from you voters. I’m hoping to be your new Dublin City Cllr after tomorrow - thank you so much
#LE19
Credit to
@IrishTimes
for publishing Leona's full victim impact statement which is harrowing:
‘Let me be clear, you did not win’ – Leona O’Callaghan tells her rapist (via
@IrishTimes
)
With love to my twin sister
@ettaverma
who was adopted by our great parents together with me and also added a strong voice from NYC when
@joeliveline
covered this for so long from 2003. And to our biological sister D who we have spoken to but never met
Positive news coming out tonight. I commend all campaigners in being heard. As a Magdalene/M&B homes baby I was involved in an active way for many years from 2003. Stood back in recent years for my own family. Thinking of the dead and the living tonight x
Thank you for those huge compliments Ellen (which is my middle name). Reading that message from a 16 year old girl makes me want to keep going and speaking out. Enjoy your summer
Lovely photo of the twins found lately. Me and
@ettaverma
outside the back of Granny’s house in Drimnagh. Our adoptive families on both sides loved and welcomed us so much
I completely admire Catherine Corless & her plain speaking doggedness for the babies and also
@KZapponeTD
for going for the gold standard recommendation. Gives me great hope as chair of the Memorialisation Committee of the Minister's M&B Homes Collaborative Forum
#latelate
As a person who campaigned for 10 years for a state apology for our birth mother Margaret and all Magdalene women I welcome An Taoiseach's state apology to
#JoanneHayes
and it now needs to be delivered in the state inside the Dáil chamber
@rtenews
So grateful to all in touch today following my interview with
@RadioRayRTE
about my short story in
#apagefrommylife
Thanks Ray for your very sensitive care of Margaret’s life story and for mentioning
@joeliveline
, her original champion
Great to see you back on your feet
@MaryLouMcDonald
you have been very clear and undramatic about your awful experience. Good health to you and yours
#LateLateShow
I cried today listening to the sisters on the lunchtime news but actually seeing them together on screen was breathtaking because of their affection for each other and their strength
‘Come forward and ‘don’t be afraid’ - Helen, whose father James O'Reilly was jailed for 20 years for the repeated rape and sexual abuse of his seven daughters and his younger sister, appeals to other victims of abuse. More
@rtenews
.