With the publication this week of the fifth interim report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, the disturbing spectre of the dead who were confined in those institutions of shame and segregation continues to haunt us.

The remains of hundreds of infants buried in a mass grave in Tuam will be exhumed as part of a “full forensic examination” of the site of the former mother and baby home.

The focus on one institution — Tuam — and one issue — baby deaths — has proved to be convenient for the Government but the spotlight needs to shift to the glaring elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about. The issue will simply not go away, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.