Two planning applications have been lodged for  246 apartments on the former mother and baby home site

Mary O’Shea was born in Bessborough in 1935 and ‘adopted’ by a Cork couple in 1942, around the same time the infant mortality rate at the home reached 75%. Here she recounts her memories of an early childhood spent in a mother and baby home, her reaction to the State apology, and her anger over plans to build on the Blackrock site

The commission of investigation found around 9,000 children died in mother and baby homes —about 15% of all the children who passed through their doors.

Developers have applied for permission to build 67 apartments and 179 residential units