26/04/2026
When Jackie McCarthy O’Brien was taken from her mother, her childhood was stolen too...
Jackie was two months old when police officers, a nun and a priest came to her unmarried mother’s door in Limerick, Ireland, to take her away.
“The image of my mum running barefoot, screaming for her child through the streets of Limerick - it just breaks my heart," Jackie says.
Jackie's mum had moved from Ireland to Birmingham, UK, in the early 1960s. There, she became pregnant with Jackie by a Jamaican man.
"It was frowned upon for a white woman to date, let alone have a child or be pregnant from a black man," says Jackie.
But Jackie’s mum couldn't have been prouder of her. Back in Limerick, she dressed Jackie in white to show off her beautiful dark hair and big brown eyes.
Jackie puts what happened next down to the power of the Catholic Church, and the racist attitudes of the time.
"For a priest to come along and see an illegitimate black child being wheeled around Limerick - that was not going to happen," Jackie says.
The church applied for a section 55 court order, which allows the state to take guardianship of a child who is orphaned, or it is argued the remaining parent can't care for them.
Jackie's mum pleaded with the police, saying her child wasn't an orphan and was well taken care of. All to no avail. Jackie was taken to Mount Industrial School, to be raised by Catholic nuns.
At the age of three, Jackie had to scrub stairs on her hands and knees. She threaded rosary beads on wire until her fingers bled. If she wet the bed, she was denied breakfast.
Jackie and her friend Lillian devised a plan to sleep in the same bed so that one bed stayed dry and at least one of them could eat in the morning. The other would be told to stand against the wall with their food bowl on their head, holding their wet blankets.
Jackie was punished for everything. Playing. Running. Making a noise. At bath times, she was made to use the bath last, because the nuns said her skin colour would dirty the water.
Every Saturday, a woman with "sad eyes" came and visit Jackie. Nobody told her this was her mum. "I didn't know what a mother was," she says.
After more than five years, Jackie was allowed home - but she thought it was yet another punishment. The first night, she tried to stay awake, terrified she'd wet the bed.
"Kindness was alien. Love was alien. I didn't even know what love was."
It took Jackie two years to feel safe.
By the time Jackie returned home, her mum had married a former All-Ireland handball champion, Mickey O’Brien. Mickey took her to play Irish handball and football, and was fiercely protective of her - especially when she was taunted about her skin colour.
When Mickey heard about one horrible incident, he told Jackie she could either fight all her life – or she could make something of herself. “Hold your head up high,” he said.
Jackie went on to follow Mickey’s advice.
She became the first mixed-race woman to represent her country in both football and rugby, holding her head high as the Irish national anthem played.
🎧 Hear her story on Lives Less Ordinary: https://bbc.in/4tXzVD0
