By James Ward
Paul Graham's 75 year fight for his identity after birth in Bethany Home left him a "citizen of nowhere."
The 75-year-old was born in Dublin mother and baby home and raised in Belfast but governments on both sides of border refuse to acknowledge he exists

A survivor of the Bethany Home has said he has been left a "citizen of nowhere" after a decades long search for his identity.

Paul Graham, 75, was born in the Dublin mother and baby home and raised in Belfast, but governments on both sides of the border have refused to acknowledge he exists.

Now Paul, who was born Maurice Johnson, is seeking justice for his fellow survivors after Bethany was left out of the terms of reference for the Mother and Baby Homes inquiry.

His harrowing story began in Belfast, where he was adopted by a wealthy, but abusive family.

He told the Irish Mirror: "I knew I was adopted, but I thought I was born in Belfast, no one ever told me.

"When I was about 10, my mother drank an awful lot, bottles of whiskey and things like that.

"Life became really bad. I'd be woken up at about five in the morning and told to got to town, which was a good three mile walk, and get a bottle of whiskey from this all night pub down by the docks."

Paul attended a private school in Belfast after a stint at boarding school in Dublin.

There, at just 10 years old, he was subjected to rape at the hands of the school principal.

He said: "I was taken to a doctor who confirmed it, and nothing was done. They said I had encouraged it. It was all hushed up.

"About two months after that, a friend of my mother's did the same thing. Since that day, I hated life. I was getting beaten at home with sticks, life was just falling apart."

Paul decided to join the Royal Navy, where he spent the next 15 years.

It was there, while trying to come to terms with his terrible past, that Paul turned to drink.

He said: "I drank for another 30 years. I became an alcoholic.

"I loved the Navy. I spent 15 years in it and I just loved it, because lot of people were the same - we drank, we smoked, we fought."

In his first year at sea, he began writing to a Belfast girl named Hilary, who would become his wife.

He said: "The first time I met her I asked her to marry me and we've been married for 57 years now."

After being discharged from the Navy, Paul returned to Belfast and began a family with Hilary.

But with the Troubles at their very peak, they resolved to move to Australia. It was then that he discovered he was not considered a British citizen.

He said: "I never had a passport because in the Navy we had a seaman's card and that was it. So I went to the passport office and the girl there said 'Well, you're not a British citizen.'

"I said 'What do you mean I mean I'm not a British citizen? I was born in Belfast, I was in the Navy for fifteen years!"

Undeterred, Paul moved his family to Australia, but his demons soon followed him.

He built a successful life in Sydney, raising three children with Hilary.

He was even elected as the city's Deputy Mayor, becoming the first non-Australian to be elected to the position.

Around five years ago, he tried to apply for a visa to America, through the Irish passport office.

Related: http://gcd.academia.edu/NiallMeehan/