A historic excavation at the site of a former ‘mother and baby home’ in Ireland has begun, with forensic teams aiming to identify the remains of nearly 800 babies.
The mass graveyard at the site of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in County Galway has been dubbed a ‘stain’ on Ireland‘s conscience since it was discovered back in October 2016.
It was found thanks to the incredible work of historian Catherine Corless, who pioneered the revelation that 798 infants had died at a ‘mother and baby home’.
Two corpses had been located all the way back in 1975 at the site, but residents assumed it was simply a famine-era grave – which references the Potato Famine of 1845 – and it was re-sealed.
Corless discovered that while there was documentation of the babies’ deaths, there was no mention as to where the children were buried.
Here’s everything we know about the new work that has commenced at the site, including how the children are thought to have died, where their remains have been found, and the dark history of Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home that looms over Ireland all these years on.
What is a ‘mother and baby home’?
Mother and baby homes were residences where unwed moms came to shelter from the Irish society where they were ostracized due to the country’s deep Catholic roots.
According to a flagship report from the Irish Government’s Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), almost half of all ‘illegitimate’ – born out of wedlock – infant deaths between 1935 and 1945 occurred in mother and baby homes.
Tragically, only a quarter of all ‘illegitimate’ kids living in Ireland at the time were housed in mother and baby homes.
Where were the remains of the babies found?
The remains of nearly 800 babies were discovered on the land of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, of Tuam – a town in County Galway.
It was run by a religious order of Catholic nuns called the Bon Secours sisters.
The new order of the Sisters of Bon Secours has offered financial compensation and extended their ‘profound apologies’, while adding that the children were ‘buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way’.
Why have so many babies been found at the mother and baby home?
Horrendous living conditions are one of many reasons why the babies died, with the BBC reporting that on average an infant died in the Tuam home every fortnight.
Speaking to The Irish World, Annette McKay – whose mom stayed in the home with her late sister – explained that her sister Mary Margaret was one of the babies improperly buried.
She explained how her mom was told her baby had gotten sick, with a nun later saying Margaret had died and she must ‘leave the same day so she didn’t see the baby’.
“Mary Margaret was born in December 1942 and died in the June of ‘43 so she was six months old,” she added.
“She died of, so they say, whooping cough.
“She wasn’t present when the baby was buried.”
When was the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home active?
The mother and baby home opened in 1925 inside an old workhouse that housed destitute children and adults during the famine, and was owned by Galway City Council but ran by the Bon Secours sisters.
It was in operation as a mother and baby home for 36 years but the conditions inside the residence were extremely tough.
In 1961, it closed after the building fell into a dilapidated state, and 11 years later it was knocked down and turned into a council estate.
Historian Catherine Corless’ work
Thanks to historian Corless’ painstaking research, it was uncovered that up to 798 children died at the home for unmarried mothers between 1925 up until its closure in 1961.
Many of the youngsters who died at the institution are believed to have been discarded into a former sewage tank, referred to as ‘the pit’, according to Corless.
Of the 798 children that died, just two were officially buried in a nearby cemetery, with the rest presumed to be laid to rest in a mass grave at the site without a coffin or a gravestone.
Her findings in 2014 shook the country and the world, and highlighted a dark chapter in mid-century Ireland when Catholicism shunned ‘illegitimate’ births and denied the children baptism and a Christian burial.
“I’m feeling very relieved,” Corless told Sky News ahead of the excavation, which could take as long as two years to complete.
“It’s been a long, long journey. Not knowing what’s going to happen, if it’s just going to fall apart or if it’s really going to happen.”
Corless added: “The church preached to look after the vulnerable, the old and the orphaned, but they never included illegitimate children for some reason or another in their own psyche.
“I never, ever understand how they could do that to little babies, little toddlers. Beautiful little vulnerable children.”
