Richard Mulligan's road to forgiveness

To date tracks from Richard Mulligan’s second album Forgiveness have been played in close to forty countries, including Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Frank Greally relates the journey of the well-known singer-songwriters and former elite athlete who never gave up in his quest to find his birth parents.

Singer-songwriter Richard Mulligan is looking forward to celebrating his 60th birthday on April 19th with his wife Margaret and family. ‘I'm feeling a little bit more grateful every day that passes for the life that I have been blessed to have lived to date,’ Richard said. ‘I had a rocky start, but a lot of the dreams I had as a boy have come true for me.’

Born in 1961 in the now infamous Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Richard could easily have gone through life feeling bitter and accusing, but the former national champion on road, track and cross-country instead chose the path of forgiveness to sustain him.

Now well established as a singer/songwriter at home and internationally, Richard's second album is called Forgiveness and the title track is dedicated to his birth mother, who he didn't meet until he was in his early twenties.

To date, tracks from this album have been played in close to forty countries, including Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Richard's first album with the title track I Never Met You was dedicated to the father he never met, but whose grave, through diligent research, he was able to find in a village in Connemara.

The recent release of the Mother and Baby Homes report prompted a surge of many mixed emotions for Richard and he received a huge public response from his interview with Ray D'Arcy on RTE Radio 1 where he told of his own Mother and Baby Home experience. "I feel that that the State has in some ways addressed the whole sorry story, but the Church still has a lot of ground to make up for what happened,” Richard said. pregnant during a relationship with a married man who lived close to her own family home in Bunowen on Connemara's Slyne Head. The end result of that brief relationship remained shrouded in mystery for years until Richard searched for and eventually found his birth mother.

In the Ireland of 1961, the day before Richard was born, a group made up of the local priest, a Garda and doctor arrived at Richard's mother's house and forcibly took her to Sean Ross Abbey in the far-distant town of Roscrea in Tipperary.

It was in that convent that Richard was born on April 19th, 1961, but his mother was allowed only a very brief time with with her newborn son and would not see him again until he was a full-grown man and a father himself. Because she would not sign papers to allow the nuns to have Richard adopted by a wealthy American couple who would pay the nuns for the privilege, Richard's mother was held against her will in the convent for a further four years, while her fourteen-year-old son Joseph was looked after by Mary's parents back in Connemara. "They tried to wear her down and have her sign the papers to send me off to America and I will always be grateful that my mother steadfastly refused to sign any of those forms. I think I inherited my stubborn streak from her."

"I was only three years of age when I was handed over to John and Mary Mulligan, who were to become my foster parents and who later adopted and raised me in their the very loving environment of their farm in Carrintubber, Kilkerrin, County Galway," Richard said. "Although I was only three at the time, I still have memories of being carried out to the car by my foster parents and I remember how strange it felt to be driving away from the confines of the Abbey. Years later I learned that I was in very poor physical condition when my foster parents took me to their home. At three years of age I was still not able to walk properly."

what was happening to the son she still had not seen since the day of his birth and it would be another year before her sister one day arrived in Roscrea from Clifden and found Mary working in a potato field near the convent. She bundled Mary into her car and took her back to Connemara - never to return.

Many years later, after his first son was born, Richard Mulligan would finally succeed in his mission to find his mother. He discovered that his mother's other son Joseph had died at a young age from cancer. He spent days in the National Library checking death notices and eventually found the information he had long been searching for.

Richard made the trip to Connemara and walked up to his mother's front door with a feeling of great trepidation. “Are you Mary Flaherty?” he asked the woman who answered his knock.”No,” she replied. Richard was about to walk away, crestfallen, when instinctively he thought of another approach. “Did you ever have a son called Joseph,” he asked. “I did,” the woman, who was now using her maiden name - Mary Guy - replied and it was then that Richard revealed his identity to his mother - with the assurance that he was only there to let her know he had survived and was doing OK.

After a slow start, Richard and his mother quickly bonded and enjoyed a close relationship until Mary's passing eight years ago. Mary also got to meet Mary Mulligan, who with her husband John had fostered and later adopted Richard.

From an early age, Richard had excelled at football and running, winning seven national titles in cross-country, track and road competition. He is a former national marathon champion and later in his athletic career won a silver medal in the 10K at the World Masters (Over 40 age category) Championships. "My only disappointment in running was not making it all the way to the Olympics. I know I had the talent to become an Olympian, but a series of running injuries put and end to that dream."

Although his birth mother never signed the papers for an American couple to adopt him, Richard did eventually make it to the USA, when he was offered an athletic scholarship to Providence College in Rhode Island where he trained with Olympic silver medallist John Treacy and several other Irish runners who were on scholarship there. ”It was my love of running and music that saved me and helped me through my life,” Richard said.

"One of my most vivid memories is of coming down the stairs for breakfast in my adoptive parents' home and hearing a song on the old Pilot radio. I was suddenly struck by a magic voice and some brilliant music. I turned up the volume to listen more intently and it was there and then that a lifelong love affair with music began.

"The singer was Elvis Presley and the song was Wooden Heart. That morning the voice of The King brought new excitement into my young life and sparked a passion that would endure and introduce me to countless other singers and musical styles.

"My life was to take many different directions as I grew to adulthood, but I never stopped listening to and singing songs of well-loved artists past and present. Eventually I learned to play guitar and write songs.

“Then over a decade ago I finally found where my birth father was buried and it was after I visited his grave that I wrote the song - I Never Met You - the title track of my first album. I also included that lovely song Kilkerrin My Hometown and Four Country Roads as a special tribute to John and Mary Mulligan who raised me and to all the great neighbours and friends I knew during my boyhood days in Kilkerrin, Galway. And there was yet another lovely twist to Richard's story when he was welcomed with open arms by his birth father's son - his own half-brother, Mick Conneely. "It was a bit like when I first went to meet my mother, I arrived unannounced at Mick Conneely's door and just said: 'I hear you're a fiddle player', and he immediately invited me to come in and share a few tunes with him," Richard said.

"I then told him the real reason for my visit and related the story involving his father and my birth mother. There was no hesitation on his part; just immediate acceptance and welcome. It felt like I was in some way coming home and within a short time I was introduced to other members of the exceptionally talented musical Conneely family."

It was right on the cusp of the Covid 19 virus arriving in Ireland that Richard launched his second album, including the lead song Forgiveness, dedicated to the memory of his mother.

"I hope there is a message in my song that can help some people who may be struggling to find forgiveness for some thing or other that may have happened to them in their lives. I found that being able to forgive what the nuns did to my mother has set me free and I can only speak of my own experience."

Richard Mulligan is a former national marathon champion and later in his athletic career won a silver medal in the 10K at the World Masters

What statutory home care and sector regulation will mean for Ireland’s ageing adults and their carers

By Michael Wright, Director of Public Affairs, Home Instead Ireland

Statutory home care is a much-anticipated state plan to provide high-quality, accessible and safe home care to everyone who needs it, delivered how and when they want it. While the State currently provides for home care services to over-65s and others on a case-by-case basis, legislating for statutory home care means that everyone in the country will have the right to access care in the home, which caters not just to the individual’s personal care needs, but to their social and mental health goals too.

The idea of legislating for home care has been under consideration since 2016, when the Committee on the Future of Healthcare called for Universal Home Care in its 2016 report. Due for a pilot in 2020, and formal introduction this year, now the statutory home care scheme is not likely to be implemented until 2022 at the earliest. The challenges presented to those responsible for its introduction, this year and last, need no explanation here. However, given the potential that this scheme has to transform community care, giving people the right to receive home care, any delay is regrettable. Care in the home and among their own communities is the long-expressed wish among Ireland’s older people, a desire that has been strengthened by the ongoing pandemic. who provide these services on the frontlines. Legally-rooted standards set by an independent regulator will lead to stronger training requirements among the workforce, which in turn will create improved career pathways and a professionalised work environment for the thousands of health care assistants who today work under an array of terms and conditions, depending on who’s paying their wage.

In a nutshell, this vital scheme envisions an Ireland where everyone has a legal right to holistic care delivered in the safest environment by better trained, better qualified, professional caregivers, brought about by a fairer system advocated by almost all concerned, and Home Instead has a strong desire to see its implementation.

We’ve recently prepared a briefing document on statutory home care and associated regulation, and delivered it to every key stakeholder in the country, in an effort to ensure that it remains on their radar amid the competing demands for their attention that Covid-19 has – understandably – rendered. Here are a few of our key points.

The potential for statutory home care and regulation

People who are fit to be discharged from hospital will go home, rather than be moved to a nursing home, or remain in an acute hospital bed. People who are vulnerable to admission in a crisis can use their home care entitlements to provide additional support and remain safe at home.

Statutory home care can provide flexibility and resources, not only to meet an individual’s personal care needs, but also to support the individual’s social and mental health goals. Such a mechanism will require supporting regulation and integration with local healthcare governance structures.

Regulated care services, whether provided by private companies or the State, will best serve Ireland’s growing population of ageing adults, ensuring enhanced quality, superior standards and holistic care services for all who need them.

Our view on the statutory right to home care

The Department of Health’s 2018 home care consultation paper stated that 94% of respondents wanted a choice in the type of home care service they receive and 87% of respondents wanted choice over who would provide their service.

The Department of Health’s 2020 Covid-19 nursing homes expert panel report called for the introduction of a choice model, payable to the beneficiary for use either to support further care in their own home, in alternative home-based supportive care or in residential care.

Commissioning of home care must be independent of the HSE, to ensure value for money for the State from all providers.

The introduction of a Single Assessment Tool by the HSE would allow the HSE to quantify the amount of home care support (or other supports) an individual clinically requires and therefore the commissioner can set a budget for a person’s service.

The individual should be able to choose their service provider from a list of licenced, regulated providers.

Our call for regulation

We call for the establishment and regulation of home care standards on carer training and development, carer recruitment, client management (for example medication management, We believe that home care providers who meet regulatory standards should be licenced.

We call for the establishment of an auditing regime by a regulator. All home care providers, including the HSE, must be audited, and the auditor must be independent of the HSE.

A governance structure for home care providers should be established, incorporating lessons from the Covid-19 nursing homes expert panel report.

We believe providers must employ clinical professionals such as nurses or allied healthcare professionals to provide oversight of training and care planning and link with local HSE governance structures.

Carer workforce strategy

Our members association, Home & Community Care Ireland (HCCI) estimates 7,000 additional carers will be required to provide 25 million hours of publicly funded home care services pledged by the State for 2021.

The HCCI has called for a multi-stakeholder approach to assist the growth of the home care sector.

A workforce strategy must focus on:

• Carer career pathways and standardised training; • Removal of social welfare barriers to entry to part-time work or taking overtime; • Benefits such as statutory sick pay.

Home Instead is delighted that Government has committed HIQA to review licence standards for home care providers this year, as well as hire additional staff to provide home care assessments. We look forward to engaging with HIQA, the Department of Health and members of the Oireachtas to ensure Statutory Home Care gets on the statute book.

To find out more about Home Instead, or to download our full briefing document, visit Home Instead.ie

What does holistic care look like?

As the leading provider of Home Care Services in Ireland, Home Instead has always placed the care recipient at the centre of its service, striving to provide the highest quality of service that is possible. We work closely with our colleagues in the public health service to develop carefully managed plans and our clients often decide to supplement their allocated home support package with additional hours. This allows us to work with clients and their families to deliver an enhanced standard of service – the very type of service that everyone deserves, and could receive, upon the introduction of the statutory home care scheme. Here, one of our clients in Galway outlines exactly what this looks like. Our Home Support Service plan meant that as a family we were getting five hours per week granted to assist with dressing and showering Dad.

But we also needed someone to be there with him as company during the day; just to have someone to talk to while we were out working.

We figured that additional hours would give us as a family the flexibility and peace of mind that we needed. All of a sudden Dad was active, not just sitting on his chair from morning until night.

We knew that he was safe and doing things that he enjoyed. He went to the shops with the CAREGivers, on drives around the land and went for walks and to Mass during the day. The neighbours even said they saw him out and about, safe and supervised, it brought the sparkle back in his eye and that laugh, his big, big laugh; as big as his personality and character before the dementia.

We are so grateful to the Home Instead team who have helped to give him back that quality of life and spark we missed.

Roche Family, Galway

Introducing the emporiaSMART.4 A smartphone for the older generation

Mobile technology helps people live richer and more fulfilled lives, but for many in the older generations, the key is to buy a product where the technology has been designed specifically to help them understand better and allow them to do more with their phone.

The emporiaSMART.4 is just such a phone. Currently on sale through An Post Mobile, it has been designed with simplicity in mind, but with all of the features of a powerful smartphone.

Simple to use The S4 has a standard Android operating system, but emporia has designed an interface which is easy to understand and where the most often used apps or functions are grouped together, and each one has a larger than normal icon to make it easily recognisable.

But perhaps the single most important thing emporia has done for those less confident with the technology, is create a unique 135 page training book which comes along with every S4. This illustrated book teaches everything from how to use the touchscreen, to how to browse the internet and make video calls. And users can learn all of this at their own pace, becoming more confident in using the phone day by day.

The S4 is a smartphone designed for the times we live in. Not only is it compact and easy to use, but it also incorporates features which are especially useful when we need to be extra vigilant.

The very latest NFC (Near Field Communication) technology allows the user to make contactless payments in a more secure way than using credit or debit cards. There is an inbuilt QR scanner for when you need to sign into a venue for track and trace, and there is also a handy magnifying feature for those annoying times when you leave your glasses at home.

The 5-inch, high resolution touchscreen is perfect for carrying out all functions, and the 13 megapixel main camera and 5mp front camera are ideal for free video calls with family and friends using the pre-installed WhatsApp feature.

Like all emporia phones, it has an emergency button on the back, but, like most emporia handsets, It comes with two rear panels so this can be hidden if not needed. The assistance button, if used, can alert up to five named contacts in the case of an emergency with one single push.

On sale now, the S4 costs just €139.95 for those who switch their number over to An Post Mobile, or €174.95 with a new 087 number.

For more information visit anpost.com/mobile or Post office.

At a Glance

Display: Large 5” screen with easy to read text and icons almost 1” square emporia emergency call function: Calls, messages and sends location to 5 contacts in emergencies Camera: 13MP main camera and 5MP front camera for selfies and video calls

Operating system: Android 10 with emporia easy interface Extras: Illustrated 135 page training book; QR reader and magnifier

Your Chance To Win an Emporia Smart 4!

Emporia are giving away a Smart 4 to one lucky Senior Times reader. All you have to do is answer the following question How large is the Emporia Smart 4 screen ? Entries should be posted to: SeniorTimes, PO Box 13215, Rathmines, Dublin 6.