LIVE Network and Riverbank Arts Centre present a night of conversation and creative responses to the ongoing legacy of the mother and baby home institutions.

Until recently, religious orders and the Irish state operated a network of institutions where thousands of women and children were disappeared into, separated from each other and exploited. Through breaking silences and sharing testimonies, generational survivors of this system in Ireland have become catalysts of change. In the search for answers, their voices must continue to be heard.

This one-off live event will be introduced by the author of the acclaimed Republic of Shame, Caelainn Hogan, and features music, readings and a space for conversation with Terri Harrison, Noelle Brown and Jess Kavanagh (due to unforeseen circumstances, Hally is unable to take part  in person in tonight’s event, however a recorded contribution will be included).

This is a live event with limited seating capacity – pre-booking is essential.  Please see our Covid Safety information before your visit to Riverbank Arts Centre. We have reserved complimentary seats for survivors/people impacted by religious-run institutions, please email boxoffice@riverbank.ie to reserve one if you wish.

Please note, in line with new Government guidelines, you will be required to show your EU COVID Certificate and Valid ID for entry to the auditorium for this event.  Due to COVID safety and social distancing requirements, audience capacity for this event is reduced. The seats on sale for this event are individual tickets ( or groups of 2 or 4 people.) If you have any particular seating requirements please contact us at boxoffice@riverbank.ie or telephone (045) 448327 

Biographies of participants:

Caelainn Hogan is a writer and journalist from Dublin. Her first book Republic of Shame (Penguin, 2020) investigates the ongoing legacy of the religious-run institutions in Ireland, narrated through her own experience of speaking with survivors and those who operated the shame-industrial complex. She has written for The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The Guardian, Harper’s, The Washington Post, The Dublin Review and more.

Noelle Brown has spent the last 34 years working as an actor, writer, and director. She has worked extensively in theatre, film, television and radio. Her play, POSTSCRIPT, co-written with Michèle Forbes, premiered at Dublin Fringe Festival 2013. It was nominated for the Fishamble New Writing Award and the Bewley’s Little Gem Award. It toured all over Ireland, played at the Centre Cultural Irlandais Paris, at the Abbey Theatre (Peacock) in June 2017, and the London Irish Centre in February 2020. Her play Foxy was presented at Project Arts Centre in 2015. Recently, she was lead artist and curator on the Abbey Theatre’s Home: Part One. At 54 she became a stand-up comedian and gigged all over Ireland and at the London Irish Centre. In 2019 she co-produced and presented with Faye O’Rourke Konenki (Menopause Unmasked) a charity event night  at the Sugar Club. Noelle is also a campaigner for adoption rights in Ireland.

Terri Harrison left Ireland in the 1970s single and pregnant. She hoped to keep and raise her child in London but was sent back from the UK by the Crusade of Rescue to Bessborough mother-and-baby institution in Cork. After escaping she was forcibly sent to St Patrick’s on the Navan Road, the largest mother-and-baby institution in Ireland, where she was separated from her son. She has run a support group for mothers since the 1990s and is currently the director of the Christine Buckley Centre. She is also a musician and poet.

Jess Kavanagh was raised by an Irish-African mother and Soul enthusiast who fed her a musical diet of Motown, Jazz and Irish Indie. Jess has written and released music with band BARQ, toured extensively with The Waterboys and worked with top international and Irish artists, such as Hozier, Kodaline, Jape and Le Galaxie. Jess has contributed regularly to Arena on RTE Radio 1 and has chaired panels, discussing creativity, feminism, race and entrepreneurship. Her front cover of Hot Press’ Repeal The Eighth issue was also on display in The National Photographic archives as a part of Hot Press’ cover exhibition.

HALLY is an independent musician, recording artist, studio owner and record producer from Co. Kildare. At his core he is a singer songwriter and a tentative poet whose nature is experimental. His style has an indie folk predominance, jazztastic undertones, ambient textures and electronic episodes. Born in 1973, he was adopted by a Naas family and raised in Kingsfurze. He wrote an open letter in the wake of the release of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission report, detailing his search for information about his past.  “I am one of the lucky ones. I got out alive and found a family that loved me and always made me feel ‘legitimate’. 9,000 of my peers died in these institutions.”

LIVE Network comprises: Backstage Theatre (Longford), Ramor Theatre (Cavan), Roscommon Arts Centre (Roscommon), Riverbank Arts Centre (Kildare), The Source Arts Centre (Tipperary) and The Droichead Arts Centre (Louth). LIVE Network is supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and is curated by Dani Gill.