Paul is a Victim-Survivor Representative. In 1963, his mother, an eighteen year-old girl from Derry-Londonderry was sent to Marianville Mother and Baby Institution in Belfast when she was 5 months pregnant. After giving birth, she was sent directly to the St Mary’s home, which was next door to Marianville, where she worked in the laundry without pay. She remained in the Magdalene Laundry for a further 3 months.
Paul was taken away from his mother at 18 days old and was in the care system for 13 months before being boarded out with a view for adoption. Paul was finally adopted when he was 6 ½ years old. As a young man in his twenties, he traced his mother only to discover she had tragically passed away some 10 years earlier, aged 29. She would have been 40 years old on the day he went looking for her. Paul’s sense of abandonment has never left him, and he still struggles with the trauma of forced separation from his birth mother. In recent years he has become a campaigner and advocate for other affected individuals. He continues, through peer support networks, to develop relationships with other victimsurvivors, as they support each other on a difficult journey.
Paul has appeared on the ITV Documentary An Island’s Shame, and has given evidence, alongside other victims-survivors to the Committee for the Executive Office. He is a member of the Victims and Survivors Consultation Forum, working alongside others to ensure implementation of the 77 recommendations contained within the Truth, Acknowledgement and Accountability Report, Oct 2021. In his professional career, Paul has worked as a Marketing Manager for a global drinks company and currently holds a senior management role for one of the Health & Social Care Trusts within the HSCNI.