Digging has begun to uncover the remains of some 800 infants and young children buried in mass graves in Tuam, western Ireland.
These children have been unidentified for at least 65 years, and it was only a decade ago that a local historian discovered the existence of the mass graves.
Here is what we know about who they may be, how they were found, and how they died.
What’s happening now?
The excavation, which began on Monday, is expected to last two years.
It will be on the site of St Mary’s, a “mother and baby home” run by the nuns of the Catholic order of Bon Secours Sisters, which no longer exists.
The excavation will be by Ireland’s Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention (ODAIT), in collaboration with experts from the United Kingom, Canada, Colombia, Spain and the United States.
Daniel MacSweeney, ODAIT director in Tuam, who is leading the excavation, told a recent news conference that the remains will be exhumed, analysed, identified where possible, and reburied.
He added that the exhumation is “incredibly complex” because some remains are mingled, archival records are lacking and it will be difficult to separate male from female remains if DNA cannot be recovered.
What is a ‘mother and baby home’?
“Mother and baby homes” were established across Ireland in the 20th century to house unmarried pregnant women who had no other source of support – family or otherwise – in a deeply conservative society.
The vast majority of the “homes” were operated by religious institutions, chiefly the Catholic Church.
Shunned by society, the women sought help there, often suffering deep neglect and mistreatment, having their babies taken away for “adoptions” they could not trace.
St Mary’s housed thousands of single mothers and their children between 1925 and 1961. It also housed hundreds of families of different configurations as well as unaccompanied children.
How were the graves found?
Local historian Catherine Corless discovered them nearly a decade ago.
Corless grew up in Tuam and held vague memories of “gaunt, desolate children being herded into the classroom at school, always a little later than the rest of us”, she wrote in The Observer late last month.
“We were instructed by the nuns not to mix with those children, told that they carried disease. They did not continue into the higher classes and were soon forgotten,” Corless wrote.
In 2012, Corless remembered the children when asked to contribute to a publication by the local historical society.
She learned about the home after speaking to elderly residents of the city and began piecing information together, poring through maps and records.
She found that there were no burial records for the many babies and children who died before the home closed down in 1961. While they had all been baptised, the Church denied knowledge of their death or burials.
She also found that in 1970, two boys had found bones in an exposed part of the sewage tank and concluded there was enough evidence that the deceased babies and children were buried in a mass grave.
Corless found records showing that as many as 796 babies and children died while they were at the home.
Corless wrote that the Bon Secours sisters hired a PR company to deny the existence of a mass grave, claiming the bones were from the famine.
However, Irish media eventually picked up her findings, prompting the Irish government to launch an investigation in 2015 into about 18 of the large mother and baby homes in Ireland.
In 2016, a preliminary excavation revealed “significant quantities of human remains” at Tuam.
How did these babies die?
State-issued death certificates list a range of causes of death, including tuberculosis, convulsions, anaemia, meningitis, measles, whooping cough and sometimes no reason.
The first child to die was Patrick Derrane, who was five months old when he died from gastroenteritis in 1925.
The last child to die was Mary Carty, also five months old when she died in 1960. The reason for her death is not specified.
St Mary’s was in a large “workhouse” that was built in the mid-1800s, and it lacked central heating, heated water, and adequate sanitary facilities for nearly its entire existence.
In the report by a commission established to investigate “mother and baby homes” in Ireland, former inmates had mixed experiences, with some saying their time at St Mary’s was fine, while others recounted a lack of food, rest, warmth, and even mothers denied access to their children.
What has the church said?
In 2014, then-Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary said: “I am horrified and saddened to hear of the large number of deceased children involved and this points to a time of great suffering and pain for the little ones and their mothers.
“As the diocese did not have any involvement in the running of the home in Tuam, we do not have any material relating to it in our archives,” Neary said. He added that the records held by the Bon Secours Sisters were handed to Galway County Council and health authorities in 1961.
In January of that year, the Bon Secours Sisters issued an apology signed by Sister Eileen O’Connor, which included: “We did not live up to our Christianity when running the Home.
“We acknowledge in particular that infants and children who died at the Home were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way. For all that, we are deeply sorry.”
Catholic Archbishop Eamon Martin acknowledged that the Catholic Church was part of a culture that stigmatised people.
“For that, and for the long-lasting hurt and emotional distress that has resulted, I unreservedly apologise to the survivors and to all those who are personally impacted,” he said in 2021.
In 2021, the Irish government released a 3,000-page report based on the findings from their investigation which was launched in 2015. After this, all institutions formally apologised and pledged to excavate the site at Tuam.
In January of that year, the Bon Secours Sisters issued an apology statement. “We did not live up to our Christianity when running the Home,” the statement wrote. The statement, signed off by Sister Eileen O’Connor acknowledged that the sisters did not uphold the inherent dignity of the women and children who came to the Home.
“We acknowledge in particular that infants and children who died at the Home were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way. For all that, we are deeply sorry.”
Catholic Archbishop Eamon Martin also apologised, acknowledging that the Catholic Church was part of a culture where people were stigmatised or judged.
“For that, and for the long-lasting hurt and emotional distress that has resulted, I unreservedly apologise to the survivors and to all those who are personally impacted by the realities it uncovers,” Marin said in a statement in 2021.
What has the Irish government said?
Also in January of 2021, Irish Prime Minister (or Taoiseach) Micheal Martin apologised in parliament on behalf of the state.
In 2021, the Irish government released the 3,000-page commission report after six years of investigation, resulting in formal apologies and pledges to excavate the site at Tuam.
In 2022, a law was passed allowing the remains to be exhumed and tested.
What have family members of inmates said?
“These children were denied every human right in their lifetime as were their mothers,” Anna Corrigan, whose two siblings may have been buried at Tuam, told reporters this month.
“And they were denied dignity and respect in death.”
Many children born in the homes survived but were taken to orphanages in other places or put up for adoption by the nuns.
The mothers and families of these children did not know, and in many cases could not find out, what happened to their babies.
Has this only happened in Ireland?
Children in state or religious care in other parts of the world have also been abused in the past.
In New Zealand, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found in 2024 that approximately one in three individuals in state or religious care between 1950 and 2019 experienced abuse.
During this period, about 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults were subjected to physical and sexual abuse, which particularly targeted Indigenous Maori and Pacific Islanders.
In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada found that the residential school system had amounted to cultural genocide.
Source: Aljazeera
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