Government has 'not discussed' purchase of Bessborough

A plaque at the 'Little Angels' memorial plot in the grounds of Bessborough House in Blackrock, Cork. Picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie

The Government has "not discussed" offering to purchase land at Bessborough, despite ministerial objection to a housing development there.

Campaigners say the State must protect the former mother and baby home site from development and order a detailed investigation of the vast estate for possible burial sites.

The Commission of Investigation found that 923 babies associated with Bessborough died between 1922 and 1998. 

However, the burial sites of the vast majority have not been identified.

Two planning applications have been lodged for a total of 246 apartments on now privately-owned land which once formed part of the Bessborough estate.

Part of the development site overlaps an area marked on historic maps as a "children’s burial ground" where campaigners believe the remains of children lie.

Sources in the Department of Children have confirmed that representations have been made to the department with "an awful lot of concern" from survivors, but the Government is resigned to letting the planning process "run its course".

It is understood Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman regards the development "totally unsuitable because it's important to survivors that it's maintained".

The minister submitted an observation to An Bord Pleanála and Cork City Council this week "drawing their attention to the significance and sensitivity of the site," a spokesman confirmed.

Furthermore, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien has written to the chief executive of Cork City Council to seek a report on the site.

"There are unanswered questions in the report regarding Bessborough," he said.

"The minister has made a submission to planning authorities in respect of proposed development on that site. In my role as minister for housing I am precluded from commenting on or interfering with any individual planning applications. 

"In light of the publication of the Mother and Baby Home Commission report, I am writing to the chief executive of Cork City Council to seek a report on the site and any issues surrounding it.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin says he has "concerns" about any development going ahead without examination and 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 sites.
Opposition TDs have called on the Government to offer to buy the land from the owner, or investigate whether a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to acquire the land for the "common good" could be made.

Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns says the Government "should do everything it can" in order to stop the development. 

"It amazes me that there could even be a planning application, it should be cornered off as a crime scene," she said. 

"The reaction to this report is not proportionate to the contents of it. “There should be a commemoration there, the appropriate response should be a CPO or an offer to buy the land, this should've been investigated when the planning proposal first went in.”