State urged to block development on Bessborough site

Maureen Considine, researcher, and Catherine Coffey-OBrien, survivor representative of the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance, at the City Hall, Cork, to hand in a planning application objection to the building proposals at Bessborough. Picture Dan Linehan

Campaigners say the State must protect the former Bessborough mother and baby site from development and order a detailed and thorough investigation of its once vast estate for possible burial sites and human remains.

It follows confirmation from Taoiseach Micheál Martin  that proposed legislation relating to the dignified exhumation and burial of children's remains found in the mass grave at the Tuam site can be applied to Bessborough and other mother and baby homes sites.