Emotional return to Roscrea for American Sean Ross adoptee

An emotional address from a man who returned from the United States to the former Sean Ross Mother and Baby Home where he was born in 1953 provoked a heart-warming reaction at a commemorative event in Roscrea on Sunday.

Patrick McDermott, whose mother Moira died in 2007, previously visited Sean Ross Abbey in 2015 and 2017, but on Sunday was welcomed home personally by Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald when he returned to Roscrea.

Mr. McDermott was sent to Chicago in 1957 with three other children for adoption to American families.

When Patrick’s mother Moira became pregnant four years earlier her family removed her from the family home in Drumshambo, Co. Leitrim and sent her to Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home near Roscrea.

Patrick McDermott and his wife Bianca speak with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald at the Angel's Plot at Sean Ross Abbey

In his address at the commemoration event, which was attended by people from across Ireland and the United Kingdom and United States, Mr. McDermott said he had no memory of his birth mother and could recall the confusion he felt throughout his formative years about the shadows looming over his background.

He described his adoptive family and others who adopted Irish children as kind people who “put their faith in the Church”, but did not realise the true circumstances behind the adoption process.

Mr. McDermott was very moved by the film 'Philomena', which documents the story of Philomena Lee and her son Michael Hess, who was sent for adoption to the United States after he was born in Sean Ross.

Remarkably, Mr. McDermott shared a dormitory in Notre Dame University with Michael Hess and neither man realised their shared experience and background.

Pictured on the steps of Corville House - the former Mother and Baby Home at Sean Ross Abbey on the grounds of the St. Anne's campus in Roscrea are Michael Donovan and Teresa Collins from the We Are Still Here group with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Tipperary TD Martin Browne

Describing Mother and Baby Homes as “institutions of containment,” Mr. McDermott said his first years in America were plagued with nightmares and and “intense lonliness”.

He said “I would go on to all the other children all the time telling them I was from Ireland and my parents gave me many stern lectures telling me not to do that”.

In the hours before his departure for the United States, Sister Hilegarde McNulty wrote a letter for Mr. McDermott's new parents, describing him as a quiet and thoughtful boy who “will remember when many forget”.

He said American families were misinformed with tales of “the new world bailing out the old world” and that they believed mothers had died in childbirth, not that the children had been taken forcibly from their mothers only hours after giving birth.

He said that after years of disentangling the truth he made contact with his maternal family in Drumshanbo who welcomed him “home with open arms”.

Addressing the gathering after Mr. McDermott, Mary Lou McDonald spoke to him directly and said that his dream of coming home “is no longer a dream”.

Visitors from around Ireland and from the United Kingdom and United States visited the Angel's Plot and local representatives laid wreaths

“I am so very taken and moved by Patrick's story and by Bianca - by your strength, your integrity and also by your compassion. For me that has been the standout mark of all those who I have met that were born here, or adopted from here, or who were trafficked from institutions like this.

“Because despite the fear and the horror and the cruelty of Mother and Baby Homes, the real legacy is the enduring humanity and the profound dignity of survivors and it is their bravery that continues to expose the truth so that Ireland can confront and learn from the appalling way that the State treated women and children not too long ago”, Ms. McDonald said.

“It is their courage that allows us to stand here today to not only commemorate, but also to say confidently that we will to the full point of truth, justice and healing”, she said.

“These places were not homes - home is a place where you are respected and loved, protected and safe and nurtured - our job now is to ensure survivors and their families feel the love and dignity and protection of a real home - and Patrick you are home”, Mary Lou McDonald said.

Founder of the We Are Still Here Sean Ross Survivors group, Teresa Collins, with Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Tipperary TD Martin Browne in the Angel's Plot