Exhumation of Tuam babies' mass grave to begin in June, confirms intervention director
The long-awaited exhumation of the Tuam babies' mass grave will get underway in June, the Director of the Authorised Intervention has revealed.
A statement issued on Tuesday morning on behalf of Daniel MacSweeney, who is leading the works in Co Galway, said the intervention – the first of its kind in Ireland – 'is due to start in the second half of June this year, pending the appointment of the excavation contractor.'
Mr MacSweeney said he expects to confirm exact dates in mid-May when the excavation contractor and forensic team have spoken to the 'families of people who were in the Tuam institution, survivors, advocates, residents living in proximity to the site, and others who have been most impacted.'
He explained that the burial site will be 'forensically sealed at all times during the excavation," and that the team is "hoping to facilitate on-site visits for survivors and family members at the beginning of the excavation.'
In 2014, local historian Catherine Corless uncovered the names of 796 children who died in the religiously run home from 1925 to 1961.
Since then, a number of test excavations in 2016 and 2017 confirmed that the remains of children found at the site were from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home.
When the nuns sold the land in the early 2000s, they exhumed the remains of their colleagues who were buried in the nearby Bon Secours private hospital but left the children in the mass grave.
There was outrage all over the world when the story emerged that 796 children were buried in large chambers in a septic tank on the grounds of the home and were not given a proper burial.
In 2014, local historian Catherine Corless uncovered the names of 796 children who died in the religiously run home from 1925 to 1961. Picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie
A Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate the circumstances of 14 homes and four county homes, and survivors received a State apology in 2021.
Families and campaigners have long called for the children to be removed from the site and given a proper burial.
Mr MacSweeney added: 'Our work is centred around the people and groups who have been most impacted by the former Mother and Baby institution in Tuam.
'This includes families, survivors, and the Tuam community. Our work will be conducted in accordance with international standards and best practice, and in keeping with our core values.
'Substantial and meaningful planning has gone into this unique and incredibly complex excavation. As part of this, we are in the process of appointing a talented, high-calibre multidisciplinary forensic team and a main excavation contractor.
'The excavation will take place in two parts. Further details on the forensic approach being taken will be shared at the start of the excavation.'
Annette McKay's sister, Mary Margaret O'Connor, died while in the Tuam home in 1943.
She told the Irish Examiner, 'I am absolutely delighted that finally we have concrete news.
'It is very emotional considering it has taken us over 10 years to get to this point, where we finally might see the end of a terrible story and we can lay these little ones to rest.'
For more information about the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam, see www.odait.ie.
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Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Irish Examiner
'Will we find them all?' Families prepare for excavation at Tuam mother and baby home
They have waited 11 years and one month for someone to finally break open the ground at the Tuam burial site and uncover the answers to what really happened to their loved ones. When the news emerged in 2014 that 796 children had died in the Tuam mother and baby home between 1925 and 1961, families, survivors, and the public were angry and upset. But when further news emerged about how these remains had been callously dumped in a disused septic tank on the grounds of the home, the whole world was rightly shocked. The Bon Secours nuns who ran the home on behalf of Galway County Council also owned the privately run Grove hospital nearby. When the nuns sold their land in their early 2000s, they exhumed their colleagues who died and were buried at the Grove hospital and reinterred them at Knock cemetery, but left the remains of hundreds of children behind. At first the nuns claimed they were 'shocked and saddened' over the discovery of the mass grave in the septic tank, but Anna Corrigan, whose two brothers died in Tuam, was one of those to quickly challenge the nuns' denial, stating they knew about the existence of the children's grave. As proof, she points to a letter written to her in 2013, where the nuns advised her to make inquiries about her brothers' grave 'at the back of the former Tuam home'. Historian Catherine Corless at the Tuam mother and baby home. Picture: Andy Newman. When news of the mass grave made international headlines the following year, historian Catherine Corless, whose painstaking research made the discovery possible, together with survivors and their families, believed the next step would be to excavate the site and start the long process of identifying the individual children. However, the whole process became mired in a complex series of issues to do with legislation, practicalities, specialised skills, and a five-year commission of inquiry, which cost the State millions. All the while, the remains of the children remained lying in a septic tank. Legislation was thrashed out in the Dáil and the Institutional Burials Bill 2022 was finally passed allowing for the recovery and identification of the children and an appropriate reinternment. Now, as the date for the first ever mass exhumation of the Tuam Babies burial site approaches, a number of relatives of the children buried there have spoken to the Irish Examiner about what will be an extremely emotional process. Anna Corrigan, aged 70, Dublin In 2012, Anna Corrigan made the shocking discovery that she was not an only child, but instead was the youngest of three. As a child, she vaguely remembered someone arguing with her late mother Bridget Dolan about her 'two sons', and during a visit to the origins department of Barnardos years later — where she was tracing her late father William Dolan's life in an industrial school — she happened to mention this story. A few weeks later, as Christmas drew close, the researcher in Barnardos called Anna and asked her to come into its offices in Dublin. 'I told her 'no',' said Anna. 'I'm a grown woman, a grandmother, just say it over the phone, I told her. 'She was reluctant as this wasn't her preferred option, but when I pressed her, she said, 'Your mother did have two baby boys.' 'My legs nearly went out from under me,' Anna said. 'She explained there were two birth certificates for John and William Dolan, but only one death certificate and that was for John. The research showed Bridget Dolan, from Clonfert, Co Galway, who grew up in a large family on a farm, was an unmarried mother. Anna Corrigan, campaigner and spokesperson for the Tuam Babies Family Group with a photograph of her mother, Bridget, holding her as a young girl. Picture: Moya Nolan She fell pregnant twice, in 1946 and 1950, and was sent to the mother and baby home in Tuam. According to their official birth certificates, Bridget's first son, John Desmond Dolan, was born on February 22, 1946. An inspection report described him as "emaciated" and "mentally defective" and he died on June 11, 1947, from measles. Her second, William Joseph Dolan, was born on May 21, 1950, and is marked as having died on February 3, 1951, but there is no death certificate on record. 'I will never forget learning this news,' Anna said. 'My whole life as I knew it, was not really the way it was. There were secrets, and my mother never said it to me ever. "I think she did that because it was too big to deal with, and maybe her way of coping. I'd like to think she shared it with my dad.' Anna told her mother's story in the original expose of the Tuam babies' burial scandal on May 25, 2014, when Corless's research was published and made international headlines. She chose to share her mother's story anonymously at first, but has since become an avid campaigner for truth and justice and set up the Tuam Babies Family Group. 'We have 11 members with families in the pit,' she said. 'I was never part of the commission, instead I reported my brothers missing to the gardaí and have no update. "I can't say they are dead. John has a death cert, and William is marked as dead in the nuns' ledgers but has no official certification. "Both children were baptised also. 'Is that a mistake in the nuns bookkeeping or he alive? I know my mother told a relative she had a son adopted to America and never left her Dublin tenant flat in the city centre in case he ever came back. Having been front and centre alongside Corless in the fight to have the burial site Tuam excavated, Anna said she is 'delighted to see it starting'. 'There has been so much heartache in between, obstruction by the State, obfuscation, and delays,' she said. 'I don't know how far this is going to take us, what are we going to find. "If remains are found, will the exhumation be halted and then we wait years for the next part of the section to start? 'Will we find them all? Will we find my brothers? I am holding my breath. "I've done my DNA tests, I hope I'll be matched to my brothers and can have some closure, but I have to wait. I always wanted the children out of that site, no matter what, they couldn't possibly be resting in peace lying in a septic tank, and we, the families, have a say in where they are reinterred. 'I also believe there should be a criminal inquiry, but what are the plans for after the children are found? "Will anyone ever be held responsible for this atrocity? Knowing this State, not a hope.' Annette McKay, 71, Greater Manchester No one knew that Margaret 'Maggie' O'Connor had given birth to a 'bonnie' baby girl when she was a teenager in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home after she had been raped in an industrial school. However, at a family gathering shortly after the birth of her great-grandchild, Maggie, broke down and her daughter, Annette McKay, refused to let her mother suffer in silence. She pressed her mother until she revealed the heartbreaking secret she had kept for five decades. ''It's the little baby,' she whispered. 'My daughter'... and it went from there." Maggie, who was known as 'one of the best-dressed women in Galway', had suffered all her life over her broken childhood which saw her raised in Lenaboy Industrial School and later locked up in the Tuam mother and baby home. 'This was all something none of us knew about,' said Annette. 'She was so upset around my grandchild that I got in the car and drove back to her house that night until she told me her secret. 'When the baby died, the nuns threw her out of the home she said, they told her 'The child of your sin is dead, you can go'. 'Imagine that? She was helpless. Mum said the baby was beautiful and described her as a bonnie baby whom she carried around on her hip. 'Mum left Ireland and never went back, she was a broken woman who suffered psychiatric problems for years, she was on medication and had broken marriages. It all added up.' Annette McKay said her mother was 'a broken woman'. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Baby Mary Margaret was seven weeks old when she died from whooping cough on June 9, 1943. In her later years, Maggie suffered with dementia and died on April 8, 2016. Annette has fought for the truth about what happened to her sister who is named on the children's death register in Tuam. She is a member of the advisory committee to the director of the intervention and is preparing for the exhumation, promised to take place in June — and hoping all of the children will be found. 'It's the euphoria that it is actually happening after all this time,' she explained. 'It is also not wanting to get your hopes up that there is going to be some sort of satisfactory outcome to it. 'Being on the advisory board, I do know how difficult and complicated it's going to be. 'I'd like to feel realistic about the possibilities, but I am also dreading going back to that site to see it again, because now its real, it's concrete, the work of trying to get something done is different to all those dark secrets that might finally be exposed. 'What will be the truth of what is actually there, will we really get answers?' Annette recalled visiting the site in 2014 when news of the mass grave first emerged. 'It was raining and dreary and we stood on the site with my cousin,' she explained. 'My cousin said, 'You do know there are unburied babies underneath our feet?' 'It is like the day of the vigil and reading the babies' names, we put our cameras down, because suddenly you could feel the power of the place, saying those names out loud. 'When you read their names and their ages — there's hundreds and hundreds of dead children and nobody can explain why. I am glad on the one hand this has happened, and I've longed to see the end of that place. 'But it is also the banality of evil, in one side of that site is what we know to be the Tuam grave, but then there's a playground beside it. Everything that is normal but abnormal. There are happy children in the playground, but they are living in a place where there are dead children under their feet. She said all she can hope for is that 'all of the children will be found and accounted for'. 'I just hope at the end of it we don't come to a place where there are still so many missing. 'What will Tuam reveal? What will it really tell us? "Those babies will never be here again, they are short, miserable lives, and we owe it to them to give them some dignity.' Chrissie Tully, 94, Loughrea, Co Galway Chrissie Tully sat on her small velvet-covered orange sofa in the living room at the front of her home as two forensic specialists swabbed the inside of her mouth. As the only known surviving mother of the Tuam home, she has lived the past 76 years of her life with two heartbreaking scenarios. Her baby boy Michael arrived into the world on December 13, 1949, but died and lies buried somewhere in the Tuam grave, or he was adopted and is alive somewhere, possibly in the US, and unaware of his origins. 'I just remember the pain when I went into labour,' Chrissie said. 'I was in the Tuam home. I had this unmerciful pain, and the nuns said they would have to get me into the hospital in Galway.' The then 18-year-old was rushed to Galway Central Hospital where her baby boy was delivered. 'That's all I know is that he was a boy,' she said. 'I never saw his face and they said he was upside down in the womb. 'They went off with him and came back and said, 'the child died'. I didn't even get a cup of tea. I had nothing. 'I went back to living my life as a domestic, a priest gave me a job.' In 1955, Chrissie discovered she was pregnant again, with her partner who was 'not the marrying type'. 'He went off to England, he didn't have any children as far as I know. Then one day two gardaí came and brought Chrissie to the station in Loughrea. 'There was an old judge there and he said, 'If you don't tell us who the father of your children is we will put you in jail.' Chrissie laughed because 'laughing is all I can do now, if you can't laugh you would die. Chrissie Tully, from Loughrea, with her son Patrick Naughton. Picture: Hany Marzouk 'I told him, 'Go ahead so'. I wasn't afraid of him, sure I'd have nothing to lose; I was already the talk of the town. 'I went back to Tuam, my mother never sent me anything in case the women in the post office would read the address on the parcel. I never got any visitors or presents or letters." Recently, through the generosity of strangers, Chrissie raised €72,000 to buy her council home in case Michael is alive. 'I can't say what happened to him I can't find where he was buried, and we did look everywhere.' There is one record that states 'return to the Tuam home' and that one sentence haunts Chrissie. 'I have been sick a lot lately, the idea he is in that pit. I don't think I could face that,' she said. 'It hurts so much. I went to Tuam two years ago and one woman looked at me and said, 'I can't find my baby' and I wanted to run away. 'I pray for him every night. To think he might be in a hole in a pipe somewhere. If he is found he will be buried with me. "But nobody can tell me anything, and that is why I want to leave this home for him. There is also the idea he is alive — you can't trust the nuns.' Thomas Garavan, 64, Co Mayo Professor Thomas Garavan has been unable to find burial details for his nine-month-old aunt Teresa Angela Daly who died in Tuam in 1936 as — on her death certificate, she appears as Angela Daly. His mother, Margaret Daly, nee Garavan, aged 93, is now in a nursing home with dementia and is non-verbal. 'I'm acting for my mother now; I am her legal representative,' he said. 'Nobody ever knew about my mother's sister until we got the records. 'Nobody was told about her, or her death. "My grandparents John and Margaret Daly from Co Mayo were married with no fixed abode and fond of the drink, so the children went into Tuam — but were also separated. 'We got a death cert for Teresa but have never been able to find where she is buried, and she died of meningitis. There are no records that show my grandparents were ever told about her death. 'She went in at nine months old as a healthy baby, she was right in the middle of my mother and her sister, and then the three boys after her. 'We didn't know about her, nobody ever knew about her, my mother and aunts did not know.' Prof Thomas Garavan is 'sceptical about the Tuam exhumation, I wonder given what we know what actually they are going to find out'. Picture: Denis Minihane He said the forthcoming exhumation is difficult because his mother is without memory and will never know if her sister has been found. 'When my mother was well, we did our DNA tests, we have all taken part in that process, so that bit is out of the way, and that is great. 'But I can't tell my mother, she has no talk out of her at her at all, she is 92 and her sister 97 and both of them are in nursing homes." While the majority of the children who died in Tuam were born to unmarried mothers, Thomas' family was different. 'They were the children of a married couple who were unable to raise their children' he said. 'All seven were taken and put into Tuam but separated, they found each other with no help from the State. 'I am sceptical about the Tuam exhumation, I wonder given what we know what actually they are going to find out. 'What condition are the bones in? Is there any potential to extract DNA and is the science good? 'My mother is a full sibling, so there is a good chance of a match if my aunt is found. But I don't know. 'My aunt died in 1936, that is a long time ago, so anything is possible, but it leaves me with more questions. 'I would like to know what happened to her and where is she buried, I would have her reinterred with her mother in Mayo. She is buried alone, my grandfather died in 1942, and my grandmother never claimed him, and he was put into a pauper's grave. 'It really paints a picture of the sort of family they were, and my aunt did not deserve to die in Tuam, but all we can hope for is that all of the children are found.'
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Tuam babies' burial site to be sealed off as mass grave exhumation begins in June
The entire burial site of the Tuam babies will be forensically sealed off and monitored around the clock, as specialist teams prepare for Ireland's first exhumation of a mass grave next month. In an email sent Friday evening to the Tuam Babies Family Group, which includes many relatives of those buried at the site, the Director of the Intervention said his team is 'still on track to begin the excavation of the site in the second half of June' — although a start date has not yet been confirmed. Daniel MacSweeney who was appointed to oversee the exhumation two years ago, explained that 'Once works start, the entire site will be forensically sealed. We will erect 2.4-meter hoarding and put in place 24-hour security monitoring'. He continued 'It is expected that the works on the site may take up to 24 months to complete. 'During this time, the Memorial Garden will not be accessible. If you would like to visit the Memorial Garden, you should try to do so before mid-June.' The exhumation follows 11 years of public pressure after local historian Catherine Corless uncovered the names of 796 children believed to be buried on the grounds of the former mother and baby home. The institution, which primarily housed unmarried mothers, was run by the Bons Secours nuns on behalf of Galway County Council. It operated between 1925 and 1961. After the nuns sold the land and left Tuam, the children who died there were left buried on the property. A test excavation carried out in October 2016 and January 2017 revealed a "significant quantity of human remains" — belonging to babies aged between 35 foetal weeks and 2 to 3 years. Read More Oldest survivor of Tuam mother and baby home to purchase first home after fundraising appeal The remains were found dumped in 18 of 20 chambers of a disused sewage tank. This discovery sparked international outrage and was reported across major global news outlets. Tuam Mother and Baby home survivor Carmel Larkin, aged 70 attends to flowers left at the Virgin Mary shrine as a vigil is held at the Tuam Mother and Baby home mass burial site on August 25, 2019 in Tuam, Ireland. Picture:The intervention has come after more than a decade of campaigning from families of children who died there as well as Ms Corless. Mr MacSweeney told families and survivors: 'I am writing to update you, the people most impacted by the former Mother and Baby institution in Tuam, about the intervention.' He said this is 'the first step towards restoring dignity in death to those inappropriately buried at the site. We will confirm the exact date very soon.' Family members of the children who died in Tuam as well as survivors will be invited to the first perimeter of the forensically sealed site on July 8. Mr MacSweeney explained that 'additional dates will be added if needs be.' A family liaison officer, Paula Kennedy has been appointed to support families with details for the visits. He continued: 'I also want to let you know that we have begun further engagement with the Tuam Community and in particular the residents near the estate adjoining the Memorial Garden. 'We will host an information evening on 6th June. Most residents have received further information relating to the site works and the Information Evening.' Anna Corrigan, who was at the heart of the original exposure of the Tuam babies' burial scandal alongside Catherine Corless, said: 'It is almost surreal that this is happening. It is a day we thought would never arrive — and now it's happening next month. 'It is a small light at the end of the tunnel, I hope we find all of the children and that the mothers and my own mother included, Bridget Dolan, will be given some form of justice for what was perpetrated on them and the children will have some dignity in death. 'We still have to wait to see what is uncovered and how many children will be found, how many will be identified, or will we be left with lingering questions when this is all over.' Further information can be found on
Irish Examiner
29-04-2025
- Irish Examiner
Exhumation of Tuam babies' mass grave to begin in June, confirms intervention director
The long-awaited exhumation of the Tuam babies' mass grave will get underway in June, the Director of the Authorised Intervention has revealed. A statement issued on Tuesday morning on behalf of Daniel MacSweeney, who is leading the works in Co Galway, said the intervention – the first of its kind in Ireland – 'is due to start in the second half of June this year, pending the appointment of the excavation contractor.' Mr MacSweeney said he expects to confirm exact dates in mid-May when the excavation contractor and forensic team have spoken to the 'families of people who were in the Tuam institution, survivors, advocates, residents living in proximity to the site, and others who have been most impacted.' He explained that the burial site will be 'forensically sealed at all times during the excavation," and that the team is "hoping to facilitate on-site visits for survivors and family members at the beginning of the excavation.' In 2014, local historian Catherine Corless uncovered the names of 796 children who died in the religiously run home from 1925 to 1961. Since then, a number of test excavations in 2016 and 2017 confirmed that the remains of children found at the site were from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home. When the nuns sold the land in the early 2000s, they exhumed the remains of their colleagues who were buried in the nearby Bon Secours private hospital but left the children in the mass grave. There was outrage all over the world when the story emerged that 796 children were buried in large chambers in a septic tank on the grounds of the home and were not given a proper burial. In 2014, local historian Catherine Corless uncovered the names of 796 children who died in the religiously run home from 1925 to 1961. Picture: Laura Hutton/ A Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate the circumstances of 14 homes and four county homes, and survivors received a State apology in 2021. Families and campaigners have long called for the children to be removed from the site and given a proper burial. Mr MacSweeney added: 'Our work is centred around the people and groups who have been most impacted by the former Mother and Baby institution in Tuam. 'This includes families, survivors, and the Tuam community. Our work will be conducted in accordance with international standards and best practice, and in keeping with our core values. 'Substantial and meaningful planning has gone into this unique and incredibly complex excavation. As part of this, we are in the process of appointing a talented, high-calibre multidisciplinary forensic team and a main excavation contractor. 'The excavation will take place in two parts. Further details on the forensic approach being taken will be shared at the start of the excavation.' Annette McKay's sister, Mary Margaret O'Connor, died while in the Tuam home in 1943. She told the Irish Examiner, 'I am absolutely delighted that finally we have concrete news. 'It is very emotional considering it has taken us over 10 years to get to this point, where we finally might see the end of a terrible story and we can lay these little ones to rest.' For more information about the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam, see
