Dig begins for the remains of 800 children believed to have been buried at Irish 'mother and baby home' where bodies 'were dumped into sewage tank called The Pit'

Daily Mail​

7 hours ago

A long-awaited excavation has begun at a notorious former 'mother and baby home' in Ireland where the remains of almost 800 children are believed to have been buried.
Pre-excavation work began on Monday ahead of a full-scale dig to try to identify hundreds of children who died at the home in Tuam, Co Galway between 1925 and 1961, years after campaigners first aired their horrifying revelations.
The institutions mainly housed women who fell pregnant outside marriage, which was viewed as socially unacceptable in Ireland at the time. Unmarried mothers were often sent to such facilities at the behest of their own families.
An investigation into the facility was prompted by research by local historian Catherine Corless, who discovered that there were death certificates for 796 children at the home - but no burial records.
Many of the children who died at the institution are believed to have been dumped into a former sewage tank known as 'The Pit', according to Ms Corless.
She told Sky News she was 'feeling very relieved' as excavation work began at the site on Monday.
'It's been a long, long journey,' she told the outlet. 'Not knowing what's going to happen, if it's just going to fall apart or if it's really going to happen.'
A report in 2017 revealed that a mass grave containing the remains of children had been uncovered in a disused sewer during preliminary excavations. The ages of the dead ranged from 35 foetal weeks to three years old.
The story has sparked outrage and horror since coming to international attention in 2014, when the Irish Mail on Sunday first reported on the claims.
The work at the burial site, which is being undertaken by the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT), will involve exhumation, analysis, identification if possible, and re-interment of the remains at the site.
Its objective is to 'recover and forensically analyse, and to memorialise and bury with respect and dignity, human remains recovered from the site'.
The pre-excavation work includes the installation of a 2.4-metre hoarding around the perimeter.
The site will now be subject to security monitoring on a 24-hour basis to ensure the forensic integrity of the site during the excavation.
Family members and survivors of the institution will have an opportunity to view the perimeter to see the works being carried out in the coming weeks.
The full excavation is anticipated to last two years.
Ahead of the preparatory work, Daniel MacSweeney, who leads the ODAIT, described the planned excavation as 'unique and incredibly complex'.
One of Mr MacSweeney's main responsibilities will be to ensure any remains that are uncovered are re-interred in a respectful and appropriate way.
In 2021, Irish premier Micheal Martin delivered an apology on behalf of the state for the treatment of women and children who were housed in mother and baby homes across Ireland.
The St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns, until it closed in 1961.
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.
Ms Corless completed her efforts to collate the death certificates of 798 children who died at the home in September 2013. In all but two cases, she was unable to trace their burial records.
The Connacht Tribune interviewed Ms Corless about her campaign to memorialise the children the following February, and the story gained international attention that May, when the Irish Mail on Sunday reported on fears the children had been buried in a 'mass grave' at the home.
The Irish government ordered a nationwide commission of investigation into mother and baby homes a month later, coming together in January 2015 to look back on practices.
Test excavations at the site of the home in Tuam only began in October 2016, uncovering 'significant quantities of human remains' in a report published in March 2017.
It revealed that children at the home suffered malnutrition and neglect, which caused the deaths of many, while others died of measles, convulsions, TB, gastroenteritis and pneumonia.
The commission said the remains were found in a large underground 'structure', divided into 20 chambers. It said the structure 'appears to be related' to the treatment or storage of sewage or waste water.
The commission later said the remains were 'not in a sewage tank, but in a second structure...built within the decommissioned large sewage tank'.
Ireland's Minister for Children ordered a full forensic excavation of the site in 2018.