I helped a mother sent to Tuam apply for her records. The state failed to give her all of them. With the Magdalene inquiry archive sealed, she had to ask the Sisters of Mercy. Their ledger shows why she was sent from Tuam to their Laundry: "penitent - twice". Two children taken.

Rose was sent to Tuam and separated from her children, then incarcerated in a Magdalene Laundry. She was also sent to an institution run by the Legion of Mary, which still holds information on her. She does not want the state to seal her records. #Stand4Truth #RepublicofShame

A note referring Rose to the Tuam institution, usually written by a doctor or priest, was partly redacted by the state agency that held it. She wants the right to all information held on her. Survivors often receive records back that are heavily redacted or are denied completely.

Rose is a survivor in her eighties who was sent to Tuam and had her children taken. She does not want the state to seal her records. She can't wait 30 years. Derry Girls actor @siobhni read her story from #RepublicofShame. Full recording: #RepealTheSeal

Religious orders still hold personal information on survivors who suffered in their institutions. Rose had to apply to a state agency, the Sisters of Mercy and Legion of Mary. We still weren't given information on how her daughter was adopted or proof of consent. #RepublicofShame

'At least in The Handmaid's Tale they value babies, mostly. Not so in the true stories here.' @MargaretAtwood shared these words on Ireland's religious-run institutions and the testimonies of survivors in #RepublicofShame. Thousands of children died in the mother and baby homes.

Remains of infants and potentially school-aged children were found in these sewage chambers on the grounds of the Tuam 'home'. Families are still waiting for the exhumation promised by the Irish state to begin. More than 800 children died in this institution. #RepublicofShame