Major excavation of unmarked grave of babies and young children under way at Tuam site
Archaeologists and other specialists have started working at the site as part of its attempt to exhume and identify human remains.
In 2014, research led by local historian Catherine Corless indicated that 796 babies and young children were buried in a sewage system at the Galway institution across that time period.
St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children in Tuam was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns.
In 2021, Taoiseach Micheál Martin apologised on behalf of the state for the treatment of women and children who were housed in mother and baby homes across Ireland.
The Bon Secours Sisters also offered a 'profound apology' after acknowledging the order had 'failed to protect the inherent dignity' of women and children in the Tuam home.
The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam (ODAIT), which is undertaking the work, confirmed that ground was broken at 10.38am on Monday.
The process is expected to last two years.
The work at the burial site will involve exhumation, analysis, identification if possible and re-interment of the remains at the site.
The site, surrounded by a 2.4 metre-high hoarding, is security monitored on a 24-hour basis to ensure the forensic integrity of the site during the excavation.
Daniel MacSweeney, who leads the ODAIT, said: 'These measures are necessary to ensure the site's forensic integrity and to enable us to carry out the works to the highest international standards that govern the excavation and recovery programme.'
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A visit for families and survivors to view the site ahead of the commencement of the full excavation took place last Tuesday.
Dr Niamh McCullagh, ODAIT's senior forensic consultant, is leading the forensic excavation alongside other Irish specialists and international experts from Colombia, Spain, UK, Canada, Australia and the US.
ODAIT's multidisciplinary forensic approach to the complex challenge of the excavation is grounded in the expertise of forensic archaeologists, osteoarchaeologists, forensic anthropologists together with experts in crime scene management including evidence management and forensic photography.
Anna Corrigan, who discovered that she had two older brothers who were born while her mother was a resident at the Tuam home, said Monday was a welcome but difficult day.
Ms Corrigan has instructed KRW Law to launch High Court civil proceedings against a number of agencies and institutions including the Order of The Sisters of Bon Secours over the circumstances surrounding the death and disappearance of her brothers.
'Whilst it's a relief to see work started on the site it's really only the latest stage in what is still a long road for all of us,' she said.
'I accept there are technical issues arising from the exhumation which may impact on decision-making by the attorney general, the coroner in Galway and the gardai and others, but the least we can expect now is expressions of support plus a commitment to reviewing all previous decision-making.
'I won't rest until I see justice for my two brothers who not only need a proper Christian burial but also the full rigours of the law both domestic and international applied.
'What happened at Tuam was criminal, so there needs to be both church and state accountability. The Government can't just do a Pontius Pilate and wash their hands of this and blame the nuns and the Catholic Church.
'They have a complicity in all of this as well. Any solutions which exclude the state won't be tolerated by me or anyone else.
'We've fought far too hard to get to here and we certainly don't want to see this important excavation work carried out in vain.
'There are so many people I want to thank, including Jim McVeigh from Belfast and our lawyers, including KRW Law led by Chris Stanley, together with Carl Buckley of Guernica Chambers, whose guidance and direction has helped to chart a path through many of the legal complexities.
'We have much more work to be done before we can feel anywhere near satisfied.'
Speaking on the opening day of excavations, human rights lawyer Kevin Winters said: 'Annie (Anna) Corrigan, like so many others, has waited a long time for this moment. It's intensely emotional for her but also frustrating given the gnawing sense of unfinished business.
'She welcomes the excavation work, which is likely to take anything up to two years to complete, and sees today as an opportunity to again call upon the Irish Government to engage on unresolved legal issues connected to the recovery process.
'Over 18 months ago we wrote to gardaí, including local gardai at Tuam, urging them to treat the scandal as a criminal investigation.
'Despite repeated requests from both Annie and ourselves they failed to assign gardai Pulse investigation numbers until last month when she received confirmation they would issue.
'We have written to gardaí in Galway urging the immediate release of the numbers. The industrial volumes of buried infants and the manner in which they met their fate clearly points to criminality.
'It will be momentous to see the assignment of Pulse record numbers as that crystallises formal criminal investigation status upon this historical human rights debacle.
'Equally important is the requirement that the coroner in Galway upscales intervention after opening up the case as far back as 2017.
'There needs to be an inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death of Annie's siblings and all the other unexplained deaths.
'We are also instructed by Annie to launch High Court civil proceedings against a number of agencies and institutions including the Order of The Sisters of Bon Secours over the circumstances surrounding the death and disappearance of Annie's brothers.
'There was a suffocating toxicity about the historic Irish state-Catholic Church relationship which helped foment the horrors of Tuam.
'However this almost mediaeval barbarity occurred within living memory.
'Tuam is in danger of becoming a byword for cruelty unless both state agencies and the church respond promptly and transparently to the latest legal agitation touching upon criminal investigation; inquests and compensation.'
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