Banished Babies

The story of baby trafficking organised by nuns, sanctioned by an archbishop, administered by civil servants and approved by politicians who tried to keep it secret... In this re-issue of the 2012 second edition of his highly acclaimed Banished Babies, Mike Milotte uncovers in vivid detail how the State colluded with the Church to facilitate the export of thousands of 'illegitimate' children in the 1950s and 60s, and how a black market existed in which Irish babies were bought and sold beyond the fringes of the official scheme. Mike Milotte's damning exposé was first published to critical acclaim in 1997, and quickly achieved iconic status. In this second edition, the author has added previously untold personal stories from some of the 'banished babies' he met in the intervening period, stories that further illuminate the murky shadows of this official, but long-concealed child-export business. Banished Babies will shock and anger anyone who is prepared to confront the truth about Ireland's dark and sordid past.

Mike Milotte is a prominent print and television journalist. After almost 20 years as a senior reporter/presenter with Irish Television's Prime Time programme, where he won numerous awards for his documentaries, Mike went freelance in 2009. His two-part programme, Freefall, which tells the story of Ireland's economic and financial collapse, won the 2010 Irish Film & Television Award for best documentary in current affairs. In 2012 he published a greatly expanded and updated version of his bestselling 1997 book, Banished Babies: The Secret History of Ireland's Baby Export Business, which meticulously exposes the scandal surrounding the dispatch of thousands of 'illegitimate' Irish children to the USA for adoption. Mike lives in London.