Long-time advocate for survivors’ rights, Phyllis Morgan Fann lived between 10 August 1944 and 23 February 2025.
THE Irish Post was saddened to learned about the passing of Phyllis Morgan-Fann, a tireless advocate for the rights of survivors of institutional abuse. In 2021, she received the Irish Presidential Distinguished Service Award from sitting An Uachtarain Michael D Higgins.
Phyllis was born in 1944 and was a survivor of St Patrick’s Navan Road mother and baby institution where she spent the first three years of her life. She also spent time at St Philomena’s Industrial School in Sandymount, Co Dublin, until she was 13, then Lakeland’s Convent Industrial School in Stillorgan where she stayed until her 16th birthday.
Phyllis suffered extreme social stigma all through her early adulthood as a result of being raised in an industrial school. She moved to London to escape her past and is quoted as saying that ‘nobody [there] ever asked where you came from, who you are, what county you came from. It was just, can you do the job?’
After some years working as a machinist, Phyllis, her English husband and their children entered the pub trade. During her first period of ownership, Phyllis then began to use the premises as a makeshift meeting place for other survivors based in London. She maintained regular contact with survivors and would use these meetings as a forum to hear about people’s problems. She also sought help for them as and when this was possible.
In 2001, at the time of the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme, Phyllis was hired by the London Irish Centre as its first Survivor Worker. She was employed there for over a decade. Phyllis and Sally Mulready set up The Women’s Group and the Irish Women’s Survivor Support Network in 2015, operating out of a tiny office in Kentish Town with few resources. Phyllis was often unpaid during her periods of survivor work, but viewed it as a vital contribution to the lives of the Irish diaspora.
Among her many credits, Phyllis helped to obtain correct birth certificates for survivors, passports, UK pensions, Irish pensions and UK welfare benefits. She facilitated rehousing and interaction with religious orders. She visited survivors to gather their testimony during periods of ailment. She encouraged Survivors to receive counselling from ICAP and accompanied the Cáirde group weekly to a session facilitated by ICAP.
Phyllis accompanied and supported many who gave evidence to the commissions investigating industrial schools, Magdalen Laundries and mother and baby institutions. She supported survivors in making complex, sometimes multiple, applications to the resulting schemes and liaised with the Departments of Education, Justice and Children on issues relating to survivors.
Phyllis was instrumental in setting up the current Survivors Integrated Service at the London Irish Centre which provides monthly lunches and meetings, activities, outings, outreach and one on one support.
Brian Dalton CEO Irish in Britain said: “Phyllis’s commitment to truth, justice and care for all those harmed within the care of the state made a huge difference. It is a remarkable legacy and the Irish diaspora has lost a great champion.”
Phyllis has left a tremendous legacy. She has made an enormous difference to people’s lives and her influence will extend far into the future. She is survived by her daughters, her grandchildren and predeceased by her son.