The Mother and Baby Homes Commission has said it is “very difficult to comprehend” how the Order which ran Bessborough has no information as to where over 800 children who died in their care are buried.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) has said it was “not aware” that a formerly accredited adoption agency owned an unmarked grave in which children were buried as late as 1990.

Adoption groups have called for “a full criminal investigation” into the alteration of files relating to vaccine trials at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home.

The dozens of teddy bears left at the gates of a Cork City mother and baby home in memory of the babies and children who died there, were moved overnight to a Little Angels’ plot within its grounds.