High death rate due to lack of antibiotics, says Sarto

A former mother superior at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home has said its adoptions were not forced, that mothers were well-fed, and that its high historic death rates could be explained by lack of access to antibiotics.

Sr Sarto also denied claims that parental consent was not sought by the nuns when vaccine trials were carried out on children.

But according to research revealed by the Irish Examiner last week, death rates at Bessborough in Cork, Sean Ross Abbey in Tipperary, and Castlepollard in Westmeath, ranged from 30% to 50% between 1930 and 1945.