About 7,500 went to North mother and baby homes

Judi Dench: Played a mother in the film 'Philomena' whose baby was taken from her." I suppose it [taoiseach's apology] goes a little way to the heart-rending pain of all those mothers who never knew what happened to their children, and have spent their whole lives, not knowing. Picture: PA

The number of women who went through mother and baby homes in the North could be "significantly" higher than previously estimated.

Judith Gillespie, chairwoman of the inter-departmental working group on mother and baby homes there, said the total will be more than 7,500, but stressed a recently completed research report should be seen first by the victims and survivors.

Amnesty International said in addition to the numbers who went through mother and baby homes, thousands more experienced Magdalene Laundries and other women-specific institutions.

I think we would all acknowledge this has taken longer than we had all hoped for

Patrick Corrigan of Amnesty said he has no doubt the total figure that will emerge will be "significantly greater" than 7,500.

A research report by university academics has been completed, and Ms Gillespie's group is set to make recommendations to Stormont ministers before the end of the month.

"I think we would all acknowledge this has taken longer than we had all hoped for, but there were a lot of complexities in the research.

"Accessing archive records was hugely sensitive given that they didn't have statutory powers so they had to persuade the institutions involved to allow access to highly sensitive personal records," Ms Gillespie told the BBC.

"There were also issues around adoption legislation and then of course we had to go through the right to respond process to allow the institutions a right to see the portions of the report that apply to them and to comment on any factual inaccuracies or unfair criticisms.

"That process is now complete, I am pleased to say, and the research is ready for publication with ministerial approval."

Ms Gillespie said the paper which the Executive will receive will include a "full range" of options, including to publish the report and do nothing to a public inquiry.

"The first option, to publish the report and do nothing, is obviously not a desired option by anyone ... but my determination as independent chair is that whatever option is selected by ministers, that victims and survivors should be at the centre of that, and driving the option going forward," she said.

The group was set up in 2017 to look at mother and baby homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland, after they fell outside of the terms of reference of the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry.

Ms Gillespie said it is important to acknowledge there were mother and baby homes and Magdalene Laundries in the north, a fact she said came as a shock to some.

Amnesty say they have been pressing for a public inquiry into the matter since 2013.

Meanwhile, actress Judi Dench has paid tribute to mother and baby homes survivor and campaigner Philomena Lee, describing her as a "remarkable person".

Philomena Lee, who was forced to give up her son to Irish nuns, who sold him on to rich Americans. 

The Oscar-winner portrayed Ms Lee in the 2013 film Philomena, which documented her 50-year search for her forcibly adopted son, Anthony.

In the wake of the newly published mother and baby homes report, Ms Dench told the BBC: "I was lucky enough before filming to meet Philomena.

"I feel as if I know the very tip of the iceberg of all this. I can't imagine, to get an apology all this time later from the taoiseach.

"I suppose it goes a little way to the heart-rending pain of all those mothers who never knew what happened to their children, and have spent their whole lives, not knowing.

"In Philomena's case, she searched for Anthony and eventually found him after terrible years of pain and not knowing. "I just can't imagine."

The actress said the State apology "goes some way to somehow putting things slightly at rest after such a long time".

The film Philomena, in which Dench starred alongside Steve Coogan, shone a light on the long search for answers many survivors have had to endure. She said: "I hope it drew attention to what happened... and the plight of so many women. She said survivors had been calling for "some kind of recognition of the pain that they suffered for years and years and years. And still not knowing where their children went. Ms Lee, originally from Co Limerick, lived with her son Anthony in a mother and baby home until he was three years old, when he was adopted by a wealthy American couple and renamed Michael Hess. Earlier this week she told RTÉ: "I used to teach him little songs and things. Three and a half years and then just to be snatched away.

"They told me, 'Your son is going to be adopted', just like that. When he was adopted, I cried the whole weekend. They took him away a week before Christmas.