Kathleen Elizabeth "Kathy" O'Beirne (18 October 1956 – 24 February 2019) was an Irish author, best known for a controversial memoir known as Kathy's Story in Ireland and as Don't Ever Tell elsewhere, the most successful non-fiction book published by an Irish author.
The daughter of Oliver and Ann O'Beirne, she was born in Dublin. However, in her book, O'Beirne claims that she was adopted.[1] According to journalist Hermann Kelly, O'Beirne was educated at Scoil Mhuire in Clondalkin from 1961 to 1969; in 1967, at the age of 11, she spent six weeks at St Anne's Reformatory School in Kilmacud.
Kathy's Story was co-written with Michael Sheridan, a journalist, and published in 2005. In the book, she describes an abusive home life and subsequently being placed in a children's home where she was raped by a priest; she was then sent to a psychiatric facility and finally placed in a Magdalene laundry at High Park Convent in Drumcondra, where she was again raped, giving birth to a daughter who later died at the age of 10. She describes how, after she escaped from the Magdalene laundry, she was placed in Mountjoy Prison.[1]
All but one of her siblings dispute her version of events, particularly where their father is concerned, and deny that she ever was placed in a Magdalene laundry; also, the Order of Our Lady of Charity, which operated the Magdalene laundry in question, claims that O'Beirne was never a resident in one of their homes. According to Hermann Kelly, her description of life in a Magdalene laundry is inconsistent with accounts given by former inmates of those facilities. Her publisher, Mainstream Publications, supports O'Beirne's claims, stating that it has evidence that supports her claims.[1] [2]