Funding Sought For A Memorial For Died In They Athy Workhouse & County Home.

Tuesday, 25 May 2021 07:20

Athy councillors seeking funding of Kildare County Council.

Athy councillors want to erect a memorial to all those who died in the town's Workhouse, and in the County Home, which was based there.

The workhouse opened in around 1844, and was built north west of the town, on a site which now houses St. Vincent's Hospital.

It was converted in to the County Home in 1898 and closed in 1996..

Both institutions fell under the auspices of Kildare County Council, which was established in 1899.

In February, Mayor of Kildare, Cllr. Mark Stafford, issued a formal apology to women and children sent to the County Home, and mother and baby homes across Ireland:

"I wish to apologise wholeheartedly and without equivocation to the women and children who suffered as a result of this councils failure to look after some of the most vulnerable and terrified people entrusted in our care. Forgotten and abandoned, many had to endure the most unbearable cruelties. We remember the many young women and babies that died in tragic circumstances in these Homes."

The Athy MD members have submitted a joint motion for debate at the May meeting of Kildare County Council, calling for erection of a memorial:

"That the council provide funding to commemorate all those buried in St Marys Cemetery Athy. This fund will enable the design and construction of a suitable memorial to the memory of all those sadly neglected souls, that died in Athy’s Workhouse and County Home."

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