Plea to excavate mother and baby homes

Campaigners have called on the Government to start excavations at other mother and baby home sites after Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone said she is in favour of such a move.

The delay in moving the excavations to other sites has baffled campaigners given that ample evidence of large numbers of infant deaths having occurred in other institutions has been in State hands since 2011.

The Irish Examiner has previously revealed that the McAleese inquiry, the HSE, and two government departments were aware of the “disturbing” issue of infant deaths at Tuam as early as 2012.