"The whole building was fresh and clean. In the garden at the back of the House, children were singing. I walked along the path and was mobbed by over a score of the younger children. They said nothing but each struggled to shake my hand. Their hands were clean and cool. Then I realised that to these children I was a potential adopter who might take some boy or girl away to a real home. It was pathetic. Finally I said: 'Children, I'm not holding a reception.' They stopped struggling and looked at me. Then a nun told them to stand on the lawn and sing me a song in Irish. This they did very sweetly. At the Dogs Home, Battersea, every dog barks at the visitors in the hope that it will be taken away."
In order to visit and write about the Bon Secours home at Tuam as well as the Magdalen Laundries, Dr. Sutherland had to seek permission from Bishop Michael John Brown, and was required to agree to edit anything that the Mother Superior wanted changed or removed.
So, was it a dirt poor, struggling place barely hanging on by a thread, or was it as described above by an internationally renowned doctor?
According to the list, the last death was five years before his book.
Poor does not equal dirty ,vulgar or unkempt.