‘We did not just hide away the dead bodies of tiny human beings, we dug deep and deeper still to bury our compassion, our mercy’

Infants were taken from their mothers and sold, starved, trafficked, and in some cases denied life itself, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said in relation to the Tuam buried babies scandal.

Addressing the Dáil on shocking revelations about the finding of infant remains at the Bon Secours site in Tuam, Mr Kenny failed to agree to amend the terms of the mother-and-baby inquiry. Instead, he insisted that the work of gardaí and the local Galway coroner must go ahead independently while there is a need to deal with the “sad legacies of the past”.

In a passionate response during leaders’ questions in the Dáil, an outraged Mr Kenny described how the Tuam site reflected the larger neglect of Irish society in years gone by.