Mother and Baby Homes: Church or State to Blame? Episode 711

On today’s episode of The Niall Boylan Podcast, Niall is joined by Gript Media journalist Laura Perrins to revisit one of the most painful and controversial chapters in Irish history — the Mother and Baby Homes.

The discussion comes after Laura Perrins argued that the blame should not rest solely with the Church, but also with the State, which she says failed to support unmarried, pregnant, and vulnerable women at the time.

So what really happened?

From the 1920s through to the late 1990s, thousands of women in Ireland were sent to Mother and Baby Homes, often run by religious orders but funded and overseen in various ways by the State. These institutions housed unmarried pregnant women, many of whom faced stigma, isolation, and pressure to give up their children.

Investigations in recent years, including a major State report, uncovered high mortality rates among infants, poor living conditions, and a system where adoptions, both domestic and international, became widespread. The controversy deepened with revelations about unmarked graves, most notably at Tuam, and ongoing questions about how these women and children were treated.

But the key debate remains:

👉 Who was ultimately responsible?

Some argue the Catholic Church and religious orders held direct control over the homes and must bear primary responsibility for what happened, including allegations of coercion and forced adoption.

Others, including Laura Perrins, say that view is too simplistic, and that the State, society, and even families all played a role in creating a system that allowed this to happen.

📞 Niall opens the phone lines:

Do you agree that the State shares responsibility?
Or do you believe the Church must be held fully accountable?
And have we really come to terms with this part of our past?

A powerful and emotional discussion about responsibility, history, and whether Ireland has truly faced up to the truth.