Sacred Heart Sisters apologise to mothers and babies who did not get care they needed

Plaque remembering the babies, women and girls on the Greenway between Rochestown and Blackrock near the walk-over the Southlink motorway at back of Bessborough house in Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, who ran Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork, have apologised for not providing the care and support to those who needed it and expressed “regret” and “great sorrow” over the high number of infants who died in their care.

The congregation welcomed the “difficult, detailed and informing work” of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation, which published its final report on Tuesday.

The commission found a high rate of infant mortality at 18 facilities investigated, including a high mortality rate at the Cork Bessborough facility in 1943, where 75% of children died before their first birthday.

In total, 9,000 children died at the mother and baby homes. Of those, more than 900 died at Bessborough.

While the report did not find evidence of widespread physical abuse, it did highlight emotional abuse among children and women living at the 14 mother and baby homes and four county homes.

There was no evidence that the religious orders, who ran the mother and baby homes, made a profit, the report found, pointing out that at various times, the orders struggled to make ends meet, the report found.

The Sisters of the Sacred Heart, which ran three mother and baby homes, including Bessborough, said their thoughts were with the thousands of women who were “taken, sent or driven by societal and family pressure to have their babies in secret” as well as with the children who were adopted and continue to seek information about their birth parents.

“For our part, we want to sincerely apologise to those who did not get the care and support they needed and deserved,” the congregation said in a statement.

It is a matter of great sorrow to us that babies died while under our care. We sincerely regret that so many babies died, particularly in regard to Bessborough in the 1940s. We also want to recognise the dreadful suffering and loss experienced by mothers."

While the commission questioned the “seeming inability” of the religious order to help with locating the burial places of children who died in Bessborough, the congregation said it did “everything possible” to assist.

“The burial of infants and children who died while in care has understandably become a matter of immense controversy. We are distressed and saddened that it is so difficult to prove with legal certainty where many of these infants were buried, especially with regard to Bessborough. We did everything possible including the engagement of a professional historian to assist us in our dealings with the commission on this vitally important matter,” the order said.

One of the cards on the teddy bears laid at the gates of Bessborough during the Bessborough Mother and Baby Support Group memorial service in Cork. Picture: Provision

Meanwhile, the Daughters of Charity, who ran the Pelletstown/St Patricks county home facility in Dublin, welcomed the report, which gave a “clear picture of the attitude and reaction of Irish society to many women who became pregnant out of wedlock”.

Almost hard to comprehend but today I’ll be reading a third state report on institutions where our birth mother was incarcerated for 49 of her 51 years until her death in 2003. The Ryan Report, The McAleese Report and now the #motherandbabyhomes report. What a life. RIP Margaret

— Samantha Long (@SamanthaELong) January 12, 2021

“We so wish and deeply regret that we could not have done more to ease the burden and suffering carried by these women, mostly alone, as they dealt with both a major crisis in their lives and totally unjustifiable rejection,” the religious order said in a statement, also pointing out that it no longer holds any records relating to the facility.

In a separate statement, the Bon Secours Sisters of Ireland, who ran the Tuam mother and baby home where almost 800 babies and children died, are expected to issue a response tomorrow. 

"The Bon Secours Sisters of Ireland will be responding to the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission report but, due to the size of the report, are still reading it and expect to respond tomorrow,'' a spokesperson said.