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#Mother and Baby Homes

A COMPREHENSIVE SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC

<p>The gates of Bessborough Mother were covered with teddy bears during a vigil this month which saw people gather to protest Cork City Council’s approval of the apartments. Picture: Chani Anderson</p>

munster

Decision on proposed apartments at Bessborough site due in July

Last month, Cork City Council granted permission to Estuary View Enterprises 2020 to demolish almost a dozen buildings at Bessborough in Blackrock, to make way for the apartments

<p>The graveyard at the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork. The graveyard was used by the Sacred Heart Nuns, who bought the House in 1922, to bury their sisters. It also houses the 'Little Angels' memorial plot to remember 'babies who died before or shortly after birth'. File picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie</p>

news

Order that ran Bessborough says it ‘tried to respond to need’

<p>The Dáil statements come after last week's protests at Leinster House including by Bessborough survivor Noelle Browne who was accompanied by Larkin Community College student Alannah Glossop, and history teacher Roisín Sweeny as she handed in a petition against any building at the site. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins</p>

politics

Bessborough plan reawakened trauma of mother and baby home survivors – minister

Protest over Cork apartment plan told Bessborough site 'is not just land'

munster

Protest over Cork apartment plan told Bessborough site 'is not just land'

SFergus Finlay: We must identify and honour all who died in psychiatric hospitals

Appeal against Bessborough apartment plan expected this week

munster

Appeal against Bessborough apartment plan expected this week

UK-Ireland summit

UK and Irish governments back Philomena’s Law to protect survivors’ benefits

'We acknowledge the suffering of those who spent time in mother and baby homes during the 20th century'

Fri, 13 Mar, 2026

Baby Stock

Illegal birth registration: Public asked about legislation plans

Minister says she wants to ensure all affected people have the opportunity to give their views

Fri, 13 Mar, 2026

Mother and baby homes: State can't say how many redress applications it got for each institution

Mother and baby homes: State can't say how many redress applications it got for each institution

State cannot produce figures on how many people have applied to the redress scheme from each of the currently eligible institutions

Fri, 13 Mar, 2026

FILE PHOTO The High Court has seen four cases brought against the State from women sent to give birth in Mother and Baby homes.

'Irrational' to exclude woman from Mother and Baby payment scheme

She is seeking to quash a 2025 decision by the department refusing her a payment under a section of the scheme

Wed, 11 Mar, 2026

Bessborough: 'We stop building if we find Viking remains. These babies died into the 1990s'

Bessborough: 'We stop building if we find Viking remains. These babies died into the 1990s'

Cork mother and baby home site has been approved for 140 apartments. But today a survivor told a vigil that 'it’s an attempt to concrete over an inconvenient history'

Sun, 08 Mar, 2026

Mother and baby home survivors see benefits cut in UK after accepting compensation

Mother and baby home survivors see benefits cut in UK after accepting compensation

Up to 13,000 of the survivors, who are living in Britain, risk losing access to essential means-tested benefits if they accept compensation, which can range from €5,000 to €125,000

Sun, 08 Mar, 2026

The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast: Paving over Bessborough's missing babies

The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast: Paving over Bessborough's missing babies

Survivors and relatives express anger after planning permission granted for apartments on site linked to hundreds of infant deaths

Listen | Fri, 06 Mar, 2026

Michael Moynihan: The prospect of building on Bessborough babies' bones should anger us all

S Michael Moynihan: The prospect of building on Bessborough babies' bones should anger us all

If we can’t get angry about the prospect of diggers unearthing the bones and skulls of dead babies in order to build apartments, what is there to be angry about?

Thu, 05 Mar, 2026

FILE PHOTO The final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes will be brought before Cabinet by Mini

Taoiseach says council should have bought Bessborough site for memorial

Survivors are gathering on the site on Sunday March 8 at 1pm and are appealing to their supporters to join them

Tue, 03 Mar, 2026

Bessborough planning decision shocking for mother and baby home survivors

Bessborough planning decision shocking for mother and baby home survivors

The Bessborough Mother and Baby Home Support Group and Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan say they intend to appeal Cork City Council’s decision to grant planning, writes Donal O'Keeffe

Tue, 03 Mar, 2026

Religious orders schools Scoping Inquiry - Ireland

Sean Ross Abbey survivor demands action after High Court ruling against minister

Ann Connolly has asked Norma Foley if the Government intends to respond or take action in the wake of court decision on the redress scheme

Sun, 01 Mar, 2026

FILE PHOTO An Bord Pleanala has refused planning permission for a 179-unit apartment development on the site of the Bessborough

Survivors devastated by council's permission for 140 apartments at Bessborough

Between 1922 and 1998, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary ran Bessborough as a mother and baby institution, during which time 9,768 mothers and 8,938 babies were admitted

Wed, 25 Feb, 2026

Plans for 140 new apartments on historic Bessborough site in Cork City approved

Plans for 140 new apartments on historic Bessborough site in Cork City approved

Newly-approved plans follow a refusal by the planning commission issued in July last year

Wed, 25 Feb, 2026

Tuam family group hits out at 'deeply upsetting' online posts over excavations at mother and baby home

Tuam family group hits out at 'deeply upsetting' online posts over excavations at mother and baby home

People have questioned why forensics teams are exhuming babies who were buried in coffins, with one saying babies were properly buried and another calling it a 'witch hunt'

Tue, 17 Feb, 2026

Minister 'erred in law' in ruling out two homes from mother & baby homes redress scheme

Minister 'erred in law' in ruling out two homes from mother & baby homes redress scheme

Landmark ruling as High Court judge directs children's minister to consider adding two homes to scheme

Mon, 16 Feb, 2026

22 further sets of human remains uncovered during Tuam mother and baby home excavation

22 further sets of human remains uncovered during Tuam mother and baby home excavation

Latest discovery brings the total number of remains discovered at the site to 33

Fri, 06 Feb, 2026

Fergus Finlay: Hard-fought apology shows just how great is the debt we owe industrial home survivors

S Fergus Finlay: Hard-fought apology shows just how great is the debt we owe industrial home survivors

Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Donovan, and Maurice O’Connell went on hunger strike for justice for all survivors

Tue, 03 Feb, 2026

Taoiseach to make formal Dáil apology to survivors of industrial homes

Taoiseach to make formal Dáil apology to survivors of industrial homes

Deal was reached between the Government and four hunger strikers campaigning for better support

Tue, 27 Jan, 2026

Bon Secure Sisters statement of apology

Tuam family group invite president to meet with them given her 'personal connection' to babies who died

Catherine Connolly had an aunt, Margaret O'Connor, who was incarcerated in the Tuam home where her baby Mary Margaret O'Connor died and is one of the children on the official death list, the 'Irish Examiner' has learned

Mon, 19 Jan, 2026

Shadow Of Mother Holding Baby On Wall

Letters to the Editor: Adopted from a mother and baby home, my father rediscovered his family

A reader says his father was rejected from the reparations scheme — but he was blessed by his reunification with his birth family

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

Tuam Mother and Baby Home site

Tuam mother and baby home excavation team to spend over €4m on forensic specialists

A further ministerial order will be required for the office to continue its work beyond June 30, 2027

Mon, 12 Jan, 2026

Probe into mother and baby homes

Mother and baby home survivors challenge bishop to help them find over 1,000 children buried there

It comes after the Bishop of Killaloe, Fintan Monaghan, urged his parishioners to 'name evil for what it is' in his Christmas message

Tue, 30 Dec, 2025

Family welcomes boost to bid for inquest into boy's death at Cork mother and baby home

Family welcomes boost to bid for inquest into boy's death at Cork mother and baby home

'It doesn’t mean they have granted us an inquest, but it does mean the case will be reviewed entirely again.'

Sun, 21 Dec, 2025

Tuam excavation uncovers additional infant graves and confirms long-hidden burial ground

Tuam excavation uncovers additional infant graves and confirms long-hidden burial ground

Forensic specialists have uncovered further infant remains and confirmed the existence of a previously undocumented burial ground at the former institution site

Fri, 05 Dec, 2025

Campaigners want burial plot at Tipperary mother and baby home to be excavated

Campaigners want burial plot at Tipperary mother and baby home to be excavated

Families and survivors lit 1,090 candles for the children who died and 23 more for mothers who also died while incarcerated at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea

Sun, 30 Nov, 2025

Bon Secure Sisters statement of apology

Sister of babies born in Tuam mother and baby home gives notice over lack of criminal investigation

Solicitor Kevin Winters has now written to gardaí saying his firm has waited 18 months for an update on Dubliner Anna Corrigan’s case

Sun, 16 Nov, 2025

Excavation uncovers remains of seven infants on grounds of former mother and baby home at Tuam

Excavation uncovers remains of seven infants on grounds of former mother and baby home at Tuam

The remains could come from the Workhouse era (1841 to 1918), the military era (1918 to 1925) or the mother and baby institution era (1925 to 1961)

Fri, 07 Nov, 2025

Irish artists call for national day of mourning in memory of children who died in mother and baby homes

Irish artists call for national day of mourning in memory of children who died in mother and baby homes

Artists, including singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey, have called for children who died in religious and State-run institutions to be remembered on a national day of mourning

Sun, 02 Nov, 2025

River Liffey and the Four Courts in Dublin

Woman who claims she was forced to give up her baby for adoption, settles High Court case

The alleged removal of her baby from her in 1980, it was claimed, has had lifelong adverse effects on the woman

Thu, 16 Oct, 2025

'I just feel my mother is being fobbed off. I don’t think it is one bit fair on her'

'I just feel my mother is being fobbed off. I don’t think it is one bit fair on her'

Mother and baby home survivor Chrissie Tully wants to own the house 'in the hope that her missing son will have a place to call home should he ever return'

Sun, 05 Oct, 2025

Tuam Mother and Baby Home site

Five sets of skeletal remains found at Tuam site from before mother and baby home

The excavation for this reporting period has concentrated on three locations which include the site of a former workhouse yard

Fri, 03 Oct, 2025

Liam Neeson 'honoured' as ‘The Lost Children of Tuam' movie goes into production

Liam Neeson 'honoured' as ‘The Lost Children of Tuam' movie goes into production

Well-known actors unveiled to star in film

Fri, 12 Sep, 2025

Relatives of Tuam babies condemn Fr Brendan Kilcoyne's comments as an 'insult'

Relatives of Tuam babies condemn Fr Brendan Kilcoyne's comments as an 'insult'

UCC Professor Thomas Garavan, whose aunt is one of the babies who died at the former mother and baby home said Fr Kilcoyne's 'argument that the Government report was first class is laughable'

Mon, 01 Sep, 2025

Human tooth and personal belongings discovered at Tuam mother and baby home site

Human tooth and personal belongings discovered at Tuam mother and baby home site

Specialist forensics confirm the discovery of a human tooth fragment and personal items in Ireland’s first mother and baby home exhumation

Fri, 29 Aug, 2025

Priest criticises Tuam excavation describing nuns who ran mother and baby home as 'outstanding'

Priest criticises Tuam excavation describing nuns who ran mother and baby home as 'outstanding'

Appearing to question the decision to carry out excavation works in Tuam, Fr Brendan Kilcoyne asked whether anyone knew where 'the 60,000 Irish children who have been murdered since abortion was brought in' were buried

Thu, 28 Aug, 2025

'Unfair' to make nuns contribute to mother and baby home redress scheme

'Unfair' to make nuns contribute to mother and baby home redress scheme

Sisters of Mercy, one of five orders who refused to make any 'voluntary' contribution, claimed they were 'just workers' in county homes run by local authorities, newly released records show

Sat, 16 Aug, 2025

Call for audit of deaths and burials at Cork's Good Shepherd convent

Call for audit of deaths and burials at Cork's Good Shepherd convent

Plans for 274 student apartments on the site of the former Magdalene laundry have been appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála

Sun, 10 Aug, 2025

‘We meant nothing to the State’: Survivors speak out over mother and baby homes redress injustice

‘We meant nothing to the State’: Survivors speak out over mother and baby homes redress injustice

Two survivors of mother and baby homes excluded from the €800m redress scheme challenge the State’s rules in court

Sat, 09 Aug, 2025

Mother and baby homes report

‘Good step forward’ as bishop to meet Sean Ross Abbey campaigners

Bishop of Killaloe Fintan Monahan is willing to meet campaigners and survivors about the mother and baby home burial ground

Fri, 08 Aug, 2025

No burial records found for 80 children who died in institution that predated Tuam mother and baby home

No burial records found for 80 children who died in institution that predated Tuam mother and baby home

Glenamaddy was an institution which was set up in 1921 by Galway County Council as part of its reorganisation of services for the poor prior to the establishment of the Tuam mother and baby home

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025

Second major apartment development refused on historic Bessborough site in Cork City

Second major apartment development refused on historic Bessborough site in Cork City

Planning permission for 140 apartments at Cork’s former Bessborough mother and baby home has been refused over unit mix concerns

Wed, 30 Jul, 2025

Plans refused for 280 apartments on campus of former Bessborough mother and baby home

Plans refused for 280 apartments on campus of former Bessborough mother and baby home

Planners reject Estuary View’s proposal for 280 apartments at Bessborough, citing concerns over housing mix and excessive scale

Fri, 25 Jul, 2025

'They are people who were wronged': Survivors challenge exclusion from redress scheme

'They are people who were wronged': Survivors challenge exclusion from redress scheme

The €800m redress scheme, which was rolled out last year, is available for survivors who were resident in 14 of the mother and baby homes examined by the Commission of Inquiry and all county homes

Wed, 23 Jul, 2025

Troubled Ground - Episode 1: The first ever mass grave exhumation gets underway

Troubled Ground - Episode 2: Families hope that mass excavation can unveil the secrets of Tuam mother and baby home

Irish Examiner podcast explores how local research into a hidden burial site sparked international outrage and official action

Listen | Tue, 22 Jul, 2025