Mother and baby home survivor Tony campaigned for redress

A funeral service was held for Tony Kelly last Thursday, May 25, in St Kevin’s Church in Kilnamanagh, followed by burial in Bohernabreena Cemetery.

Tony had appeared in the pages of The Echo many times over the years, owing to his tireless efforts campaigning for redress for survivors, and detailing his own experiences of tracing his family.

Tony Kelly spent periods of his childhood in St Theresa’s in Blackrock and St Philomena’s in Stillorgan and was fostered out to nine different families in Dublin.

He then spent ten years with a foster family in Mayo before moving to England when he was 16, where he worked in construction and also carved out a successful wrestling career.

However, Tony still had many unanswered questions about his family and upbringing, and in 1980 returned to Ireland and commenced a decades-long search for answers.

After a 31-year search, compounded by a struggle to access files that were held by the State and the Catholic Church, the former wrestler was finally able to piece together his family history.

He discovered that his mother was 27 when she fell pregnant with him, by a married man ten years her senior for whom she worked as a house cleaner.

Tony found out that he had six brothers and two sisters on his father’s side, but sadly his brother Michael and sister Margaret were deceased by the time he managed to trace his family.

He also found out that he had two sisters and one brother on his mother’s side.

Tracing them was an arduous task, as Tony claimed he had been given false information at numerous points before uncovering the truth.

In 2019, he finally got to meet his siblings and recounted his delight to The Echo at the time, but also his frustration at the processes that delayed his attempts to find his family.

He said: “I made a vow that, come what may, be it good or bad, that I would not accept the lies that I was being told, and that I would get the truth of my birth and my family.

“And here I am today [having met my siblings] – but it should not have taken so long and caused me so many restless days and nights.”

In his last correspondence with The Echo, in October last year, Tony detailed the work he’d been doing with Senator Erin McGreehan to try to secure redress for mother and baby home survivors living overseas.

He also shared his excitement at his life story being chronicled in a documentary by American filmmaker Margaret Acosta, who he said told him that his life story was a story that needed to be told in film.

Tony, who was a founder of the United Survivors Group, passed away unexpectedly at home in November last year.

According to his death notice on RIP.ie, he will be forever loved and very sadly missed by his loving family and all his many friends.