Kathy O'Beirne

'I feel my story had to be told. So much evil was done there was a voice inside me shouting, "Justice".' With no one to confide in, Kathy suffered in silence as she was battered by her father and molested by local boys. At the age of eight, she was torn from her family and incarcerated in a series of Catholic homes. When she was sent to a psychiatric unit, she suffered terrifying electric- shock therapy and further cruelty at the hands of her supposed carers. After ending up in a Magdalen laundry, she fell victim to sexual abuse and gave birth to baby Annie just weeks before her fourteenth birthday. Don't Ever Tell is Kathy's harrowing account of her ruined childhood and of her subsequent fight for justice.

A True Tale of a Childhood Destroyed by Neglect and Fear

Don't Ever Tell

ett barndomshelvete i Magdalenatvätterierna

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The True Story of a Childhood Hell Inside Ireland's Magdalen Laundries

Kathy's Story

The Magdalene Sisters made international headlines with Peter Mullan's award winning film of the same name which put the abuse which went on in the Magdalen Laundries on to a world stage. The laundries operated for over eight decades. Thousands of young Irish girls, already orphaned or at risk in the community, were incarcerated in homes run by nuns and subjected to punishing work routines. Many were beaten and sexually abused. Those who became pregnant had their babies taken from them and shipped to the US. However, a survivor of the horrific system has never told their personal story - until now. Kathy O'Beirne spent nearly 14 years under the Magdalen Laundry regime. At the age of eight her father called and asked if she wanted to go to the seaside. She was thrilled and ran to the front door only to find a nun waiting for her. She was taken to a Magdalen Laundry and didn't return home until she was 21. For the next two years she was sexually abused and beaten. After attempting to rebel against the system she was classified as mentally ill and transferred to a mental hospital where the abuse contined with the addition of regular electric shock treatments. Her baby was born with an illness and spent the rest of her short life in a home run by nuns who buried her in a mass grave. Kathy still doesn't know where her baby is buried. Miraculously she survived but has chosen to tell her story in the hope that she can help other victims of the Magdalene Sisters Laundry Scandal and help remember all those who died and were buried in mass graves, without coffins or headstones. In Kathy's Story, the author recounts her tragic experiences in unflinching detail, along the way stirring up many extreme emotions. It details her will to survive horrific circumstances and her subsequent fight for justice that will inspire and impassion many.

Kathy O'Beirne

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