‘Angel plot’ in Tuam surveyed
The geographical survey was conducted on behalf of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission yesterday and carried out with the consent of Galway County Council, the owners of the site.
It is unclear if, or when, similar surveys of ‘angel plots’ or graveyards on the sites of other mother and baby homes will be undertaken.
In a statement, the commission said the survey involved the use of “non-invasive methods” and was conducted over the surface of the ground inside the current boundaries of the graveyard.
The sub-surface of the site was not disturbed.
“The purpose of the survey is to detect the presence of possible sub surface anomalies,” read the statement. “Ground-penetrating radar, magnetometry and electrical resistivity remote sensing methods will be used.”
The revelation that 796 children died at Tuam Mother and Baby Home between 1925 and 1960 forced the Government into launching a state inquiry into the issue last year.
However, the Irish Examiner revealed earlier this summer that two Government departments had been told by the HSE in 2012 that 478 children died in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork in a 19-year period — a higher death rate than that recorded in Tuam.
The unpublished report also expressed concern that death records may have been falsified so that children could “be brokered in clandestine adoption arrangements” both at home and abroad.
A separate HSE memo also shows the Government was advised to launch a state inquiry into Tuam Mother and Baby Home as far back as 2012.
The note reveals concerns that up to 1,000 children may have been “trafficked” to the US from the institution in “a scandal that dwarfs other, more recent issues with the Church and State”.
It ends with a recommendation that the then health minister be informed with a view to a State inquiry being launched. This was almost two years before revelations of a mass grave at the home forced the Government into launching a state inquiry.
The note reveals the HSE had already compiled a database of “up to 1,000 names” to try to link “names to letters and to payments”.
“A concern is that, if there is evidence of trafficking babies, that it must have been facilitated by doctors, social workers etc, and a number of these health professionals may still be working in the system,” according to the note.
“It is important to send this up to the minister as soon as possible: with a view to an inter-departmental committee and a fully fledged, fully resourced forensic investigation and State inquiry.”
