Appeal for information over burials at mother and baby homes

A public appeal for information has been made relating to the burials of a “large number” of children who died in the Bessborough mother and baby home.

The mother and baby homes commission published the appeal on its website, stating that anyone with information or documentation should make a submission to the commission on or before April 1.

It stated: “The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation is tasked with investigating and reporting on the burial arrangements of children and mothers who died while resident in the institutions within our remit.

“We are currently investigating the burials of a large number of children who died while resident in Bessboro Mother and Baby Home in Cork between 1922 and 1998. The Commission would like to hear from anyone who has personal knowledge, documentation or any other information concerning the burial arrangements and/or burial places of children who died in Bessboro in this time period.”

In March last year, the commission confirmed that “significant quantities of human remains” had been discovered at the Tuam site.

However, despite this, campaigners have hit out at delays in moving searches to other sites of mother and baby homes, pointing out that the issue of infant mortality at such homes was not unique to Tuam.

The Irish Examiner revealed in 2015 that almost 470 infants and 10 women were recorded as having died at the Bessborough mother and baby home between 1934 and 1953. More than half of these children died between 1938 and 1944. The cause of death in around 20% of the deaths is listed as ‘marasmus’, or malnutrition.

A death register listing these details, as well as those for infant deaths at the Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home in Roscrea, was maintained by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and has been held by the HSE (and now Tusla) since 2011.

Concern about this material was noted within the HSE and, in 2012, senior management stated that the minister needed to be informed so a full State inquiry could be launched.

This was two years before Catherine Corless’s research made headlines worldwide.