by Mike Milotte
Irish children alleged to be illegally registered as American citizens, 1952-57
350/280:
Statistics relating to the issue of passports to children who are travelling abroad for the purpose of legal adoption, 1955
350/297:
Correspondence with the Department of Health regarding the issue of pass¬ports to children in County Homes, 1956-57
Note on Monetary Conversions
When converting monetary values from the 1950s and early ’60s to today’s equivalents, I have first converted to Euro where appropriate (conversion rate: €1 = Ir£0.787564) and then multiplied by a factor of 76. This method of calculation is based on official figures for average earnings which have risen from around £7 a week in the early years (€8.90) to €675 a week in mid-2011. The dollar-punt exchange rate was constant at $2.8 to £1 throughout the period in question.
Endnotes
Part 1: Prologue
1. New York Times, 29 July 1949
2. San Francisco Call Bulletin, 15 November 1949
3. San Francisco Chronicle, 15 November 1949
4. San Francisco Examiner, 15 November 1949
5. Ibid
1. A Happy Hunting Ground
1. DoEA 345/96/I, internal memo, Kenny to Commins, 13 October 1952
2. DoEA 345/96/I, note to Minister, 5 November 1951
3. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan, internal memo 9 November 1950. Horan reports communication from a Mr. Lefreniere of the US embassy to the effect that 140 US entry visas were issued to Irish babies for adoption between July 1949 and September 1950, an average of 10 per month, giving a total of 170 to the end of 1950.
4. McQuaid Papers, ‘American Adoptions,’ undated typescript.
5. The Irish Times, 8 October 1951
6. DoEA 350/28
7. DoEA 345/96/I
8. All figures from the Central Statistics Office.
9. Barrett, C., Adoption: the parents, the child, the home, Dublin 1952, pp.17-18
10. lbid, pp.23-24
11. Dervan, M., The Problem of the Unmarried Mother, Mercier Press, Cork, 1961, p. 12
12. While they banned foreign adoptions, however, the British authorities still sanctioned the shipment of thousands of children from orphanages and homes throughout Britain (including Northern Ireland) to Commonwealth countries where they were placed in institutions – many run by Irish Christian Brothers. The aim was to release them into society when they were old enough to marry and reproduce, thereby boosting the Anglo-Saxon presence in these countries. Many of the children were exported against their wishes and without the knowledge of their parents. See Margaret Humphreys, Empty Cradles, Corgi, London 1995. For the story of the sexual and physical abuse of many of these children by Christian Brothers, see the documentary, Betrayal, by Mike Milotte and Mary Raftery (RTE Prime Time, November 2001). See also the 2011 feature film, Oranges and Sunshine, directed by Jim Loach.
13. New York Times, 24 November 1950
2. McQuaid’s Rules, OK?
1. DoEA 345/96/I, Schafer, St Louis Globe, to Passport Office, 9 May 1950
2. DoEA 345/96/I, Hughes to DoEA, 17 November 1949
3. DoEA 345/96/1, DoEA to Hughes, 21 November 1949
4. DoEA 345/96/I, various papers
5. DoEA 345/96/I, Dept Health to DoEA, 12 December 1949
6. Schafer, op. cit.
7. DoEA, 345/96/I, Dept Health to DoEA, 12 December 1949
8. McQuaid Papers, copy of Brown’s letter to St V de P, 8 March 1950
9. McQuaid Papers, handwritten note on Barrett’s letter to Mangan, 22 March 1950
10. DoEA 345/96/I, WJ. Gilligan, Hon Sec St v de P to Rev Brown, 24 March 1950
11. DoEA 345/96/I Assistant Secretary to Secretary, 5 September 1950
12. Barrett, Adoption, 1952, pp. 42-43
13. McQuaid Papers, Sr Elizabeth to Fr Mangan, 4 June 1951
14. Statement to the author from Sr Gabriel Murphy, Senior Professional Social Worker, St Patrick’s Guild, June 1996
15. Sr Frances Elizabeth to Mr & Mrs M.J., correspondence in the author’s possession.
16. McQuaid Papers, Sr Frances Elizabeth to Fr Mangan, 25 March 1950
17. McQuaid Papers, Fr Mangan to Sr Frances Elizabeth, 25 March 1950
18. McQuaid Papers, Sr Monica to Fr Mangan, 23 & 24 March 1950, Mangan to Monica, 25 March 1950
19. New York Times, 18 March 1950
20. McQuaid Papers, handwritten memo, undated
21. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Garda Superintendent, 27 February 1952
22. McQuaid Papers, Barrett to Mangan, 30 March 1950
23. Minutes of the Meeting of Standing Committee of Directors of Catholic Charities, Washington, 19 May 1950, Catholic University, Washington
24. DoEA 345/96/I, Hugh McCann, Irish embassy in Washington to DoEA, 23 May 1950
25. Ibid
26. DoEA 345/96/I, McCann to DoEA, 23 June 1950
27. DoEA 345/96/I, Lennon to Gallagher, 4 September 1950
28. Gallagher to Secretary, 12 July 1950
29. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Gallagher, internal memo, June 1950
30. DoEA 345/96/I, Gallagher to Secretary, internal memo, 12 July 1950
31. Ibid
32. Ibid
33. McQuaid Papers, Barrett to Mangan, 29 May 1951
34. McQuaid Papers, Sr Frances Elizabeth to Fr Mangan
35. J.H. Whyte, Church and State in Modern Ireland 1923-1979, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1980 pp. 192-3
36. McQuaid Papers, ‘American Adoption of Irish Children’, undated.
37. McQuaid Papers. This is the earliest version of this document. Later versions appear in various files, but the amendments are slight.
38. ‘American Adoptions of Irish Children’ op. cit.
39. DoEA 345/96/I, Berry, Justice, to MacDonald, DoEA, 2 November 1950
40. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan memo, 29 December 1950
41. DoEA 345/96/I, Sean Ronan, DoEA, to Donal Scully, Irish Consulate, New York, 5 June 1951
42. DoEA 345/96/II, ‘Documentation to be submitted with Passport Application for Catholic Illegitimate Child’, undated. The ‘not shirking natural parentage’ condition was added to the Department’s regulations at an unknown date, some time after the initial rules were set down.
43. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan memo, 29 December 1950
44. Dáil Debates, Vol. 125, Col 781
45. The Irish Times, 12 April 1951
3. Me Tommy, You Jane
1. .Saturday Chronicle, 11 November 1951
2. The Irish Times, 30 October 1951
3. Florrie Kavanagh gave this account of the entire episode to the Sunday Express, 11 November 1951
4. Daily Mail Weekend, 10 October 1998
5. Sunday Chronicle, 11 November 1951
6. Dáil Debates, 21 November 1951, Vol 127, Col 6
7. DoEA 345/96/I (340/12/114) ‘Deputy Kyne’s Question re Thomas Kavanagh/ Jane Russell’ addressed to the Minister.
8. DoEA 345/96/I, Memo to Secretary of Department from MR, 12 November 1951
9. Manchester Guardian, 16 November 1951
10. Sunday News, 20 April 1952
11. Manchester Guardian, 1 January 1952
12. Sunday News, 20 April 1952
13. Interview with John Peoples, Jane Russell’s agent, June 1996
14. Letter from Bruce Mohler, National Catholic Welfare Conference, to Msgr Cecil Barrett, Catholic Social Welfare Bureau, 31 March 1958, archives of the Migration and Refugee Services, US Catholic Conference.
15. DoEA 345/96/I, O’Beirne to Dept Secretary, 19 December 1951
16. Handwritten and initialled note on O’Beirne’s memo, dated 29 December 1951
17. DoEA 345/96/I, Letter from TJ. Horan, 14 January 1952
18. The Irish Times, 8 October 1951
19. DoEA 345/96/I, Telex, Horan to Woods, 31 Decem- ber1951
20. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Molloy, 16 January 1952
21. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Molloy, 21 November 1950
22. DoEA 345/96/I, 29 December 1950
23. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Molloy, 16 January 1952
24. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Chief Superintendent, 4 January 1952
25. Ibid
26. Ibid
27. DoEA 345/96/II, Brogan to Commins, DoEA
28. DoEA 345/96/I, Ms R Kenny, memo 2 November 1951
29. Quoted by Elizabeth Marriott, ‘A National Tragedy’, in Hampshire Life, Daily Hampshire Gazette Magazine, 8-14 May 1998.
30. Interview with Mary Theresa Monaghan, Dublin 1998. All subsequent quotations are from letters and documents provided by Ms Monaghan to the author.
31. Daily Mail, Weekend, 10 October 1998
32. Ibid
33. Chicago Tribune, 6 July 1955
34. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Molloy, 24 January 1952
4. A Hard Act To Follow
1. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Molloy, 24 January 1952
2. J.H. Whyte, Church and State in Modern Ireland, 1923-1979, p. 276
3. DoEA 345/96/I, Wm, Fay, DoEA, to Irish embassy, Washington, 25 April 1952
4. This distinction between ‘legitimate’ and ‘illegitimate’ was found to be unconstitutional by the Irish Supreme Court in the late 1970s. But the effect of the Supreme Court decision was not to give ‘illegitimate’ children the same rights as ‘legitimate’ ones – ie the right not to be exported – but rather to legalise the export of ‘legitimate’ children as well. But by this time the American traffic had already come to a halt.
5. McQuaid Papers, Letter from Department of Justice to Fr Chris Mangan, 4 November 1952
6. Ibid
7. The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child, Nancy Newton Verrier, (Lafayette, California, 1993) provides a thoroughgoing account of the psychological damage that can be wrought by separation, and in particular the feeling – and enduring dread – of abandonment.
5. A Major Inquisition
1. DoEA 345/96/545
2. DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Molloy, 21 November 1950
3. DoEA 345/96/I, reference dated 26 August 1950
4. Interview with Anne Phelan, November 1996, Dublin
5. DoEA 345/96/545, Kennan, DoEA, to Berry, Justice, 25 June 1954
6. Flaherty quoted in Ibid
7. DoEA 345/96/545, D.I. John Flaherty’s report, 9 July 1954
8. Ibid
9. Ibid
10. Lynda Harden, now Hargrave, provided all the details about her personal story by way of email correspondence.
11. The names of all the American Air Force couples as well as the babies’ natural mothers, have been blanked out from the official Garda investigation file. However, thanks to an oversight, the name ‘Autry’ remains visible in one document. One day, out of the blue, I received a query from an American man called Gene Autry who was desperately seeking information about his origins, having just discovered, in 1997, that he had been born in Ireland and adopted. He had had no idea he was an anonymous baby in a Garda investigation file. By comparing what information he had gathered with the details I had obtained from the files, I was able to identify Gene of as one of the ‘St Rita’s 8’ and provided him with all the information about his origins and unorthodox acquisition by the Autrys from the Garda file. Gene subsequently discovered much more from his adoptive mother and shared that information with me.
12. Copy of Marie Keating’s letter to Mary Autry supplied by Gene Autry.
13. DoEA 345/96/545, Kennan, DoEA, to Dutko, US embassy, 27 November 1954
14. DoEA 345/96/545, Kennan to Fay, internal memo, 19 October 1954
15. Ibid
16. Ibid
17. DoEA 345/96/545, Private Secretary to Minister, 22 October 1954
18. DoEA 345/96/545, Minister’s minute, 25 October 1954
19. DoEA 345/96/545, Kennan to Morrissey, internal memo, 13 January 1955
20. DoEA 345/96/545, telex 83, Kennan to Kirwan, telex 136, Kennan to Woods, telex 212, Woods to Kennan, January 1955
21. DoEA 345/96/545, Fr Keane’s original reference quoted in Kennan to Morrissey, internal memo, 13 January 1955
22. Ibid
23. DoEA 345/96/545, Morrissey to Rynne, internal memo, 20 January 1955.
24. Handwritten note on above memo.
25. New Haven and Connecticut Register, 2 February 1955
26. DoEA 345/280, Garda Siochana, Metropolitan Division, Alleged Trade in Irish Children for American Couples, 15 February 1955
27. DoEA 345/280, Kennan, DoEA, to Berry, Justice, 11 March 1955
28. DoEA 345/280, Berry to Kennan, 2 April 1955
29. DoEA 345/280, Morrissey to Woods, internal memo, 13 April 1955
30. DoEA 345/96/545, Morrissey internal memo, 28 April 1955
31. DoEA 345/96/545. An undated handwritten note on the margin of Morrissey’s internal memo to Rynne of 20 January 1955 states ‘instruction subsequently cancelled by Minister after further discussion with Mr Morrissey’.
32. DoEA 345/96/545, Cosgrave’s note on Morrissey’s internal memo to Minister, 20 May 1955
33. DoEA 345/96/545, Morrissey, DoEA, to Adams, US embassy, 31 May 1955
34. DoEA 345/96/545, Kenny to Kennan, internal memo, 21 February 1955; Kennan to Morrissey, internal memo, 24 February 1955
35. DoEA 345/96/545, J. Shields, Irish embassy, Washington to Secretary, DoEA, 12 June 1957; Morrissey to Secretary, internal memo, 19 June 1957
6. From Cock-Ups
1. DoEA 345/96/II, Angel Guardian Home to Sr Monica, St Patrick’s; Mother Rosamund, Castlepollard and Sr Barbara, Sean Ross Abbey, 12 May 1954
2. DoEA 345/96/II, Reddy to Barrett, 11 February 1955
3. DoEA 345/96/II, O’Grady to Barrett, 7 July 1955
4. DoEA 345/96/II, Barrett quotes the Kansas letter in a letter of his own to Ms Kenny at the DoEA, 20 August 1955
5. DoEA 345/96/II, Quealy’s circular and related correspondence.
6. DoEA 345/96/II, Barrett to Morrissey, 14 July 1955
7. DoEA 345/96/II, ‘Discussion with Monsignor O’Grady at the Department on the 16th January 1956’
8. DoEA 345/96/II, Morrissey to O’Grady, 8 December 1955
9. Ibid
10. DoEA 345/96/II, Morrissey, DoEA to Sean Ronan, Irish Consul in Chicago, 22 September 1956
11. DoEA 345/96/II, ‘Discussion with Monsignor O’Grady’, op. cit.
12. DoEA 345/96/II, Ronan, Chicago, to Woods, DoEA, 29 August 1956
13. DoEA 345/96/II, Morrissey to Ronan, 22 September 1956
14. DoEA 345/96/II, Welfare Dept., Madison, Wisconsin to Sean Ronan, Chicago Consul, 22 September 1956.
15. DoEA 345/96/1/2, National Conference of Catholic Charities, Annual Meeting 1957, report from Sean Ronan, Chicago Consul, to DoEA, Dublin
16. DoEA 345/96/II, covering note to Minister, 3 February 1956
7. ... To Cover-Up
1. DoEA 345/96/1/1, ‘Report to Government re Adoption of Irish Children...’, various drafts
2. DoEA 345/96/III. This file contains further drafts of the Report
3. Dáil Debates, 10 April 1956, Col 8
4. Ibid
5. Dáil Debates, 19 June 1956, Col 473
6. DoEA 345/96/II, Garda report quoted inJ.J. McCarthy, Dept of Justice, to Woods, DoEA 22 March 1956
7. Dáil Debates, op. cit.
8. Dáil Debates, 18 July 1956, Col 1227. It transpired in the subsequent debate that Mrs O’Carroll had misunderstood the terms of the Adoption Act as it affected foreign adoptions. She had mistakenly believed that the Act banned the export of children over one year of age rather than under one year. And she had taken up the cases of Anthony Barron and Mary Clancy largely because both were over one year of age when removed from Croom hospital, something which she thought was a criminal act. Had she not made this simple error – a consequence of the impenetrable language of the Adoption Act
– the Dáil debate would not have taken place at all.
9. Dáil Debates, 18 July 1956, Cols 1227-8
10. Ibid, Col 1229
11. Ibid, Cols 1369-70
12. Ibid, Cols 1371-72
13. Ibid, Cols 1373-74
14. Ibid
15. Longford News, 24 September 1955
16. DoEA 350/297, Morrissey, DoEA to Health, 26 June 1956
17. Ibid, Dowling, Health to DoEA, 31 July 1956
18. Ibid, Hargadon, Health, to Dublin Board of Assistance, 26 January 1957
19. Ibid, Health to DoEA, 14 February 1957
20. Ibid, Morrissey to Secretary, internal memo, 6 March 1957
21. Ibid, Morrissey, DoEA to Health, 8 March 1957
22. DoEA 345/96/1/1, internal memo, O’Riordan to Gallagher, 9 October 1961
23. DoEA 345/96/1/1, O’Riordan internal memo, 30Jan- uary 1962
24. McQuaid Papers, Cecil Barrett to Bruce Mohler, Director, National Catholic Welfare Conference, Washington, 17 February 1958
25. New York Times, 1 August 1958
26. Kevin Murtaugh wrote to me after the first edition of Banished Babies was published in 1997. After several letters had passed between us, he opened up and told me his full and very disturbing story.
27. Kieran McGrath, The Irish Times, 11 November 1998
28. Kentucky Post, 7 December 2007
29. The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child, Nancy Newton Verrier, Lafayette, California, 1993
30. Quoted in Journey of the Adopted Self, Betty Jean Lifton, Basic Books, New York 1994, p.102
31. Ibid, p. 103
32. Ibid, p. 107
8. A Very Grave Offence
1. Interview with Karl Mullen, Dublin, 1997
2. The names of Wedderburn and Woulfe are fictitious; real names have been changed for legal reasons.
3. This account of the Garda investigation was given to me by a departmental official who had sight of the file. The file itself was never released for public inspection.
4. Irish Press, 20 January 1965
5. Interview with priest, May 1996
6. DoEA 345/96/II, Fr Brogan, Chicago to Ms R Kenny, DoEA, 8 May 1957. The other two were Fr Cecil Barrett of the Catholic Social Welfare Bureau, and Ms Rita Kenny, an official in the Passport Office.