Mother and baby home campaigners criticise slow progress of Institutional Burials Bill

The area of land at the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork marked on historic maps as “childrens’ burial ground” remains under threat from development and excavation until the bill is enacted. Picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie

Mother and baby home campaigners have criticised the slow progress of the Institutional Burials (Authorised Interventions) Bill which is designed to protect former institutions.

The Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance (CSSA), which represents survivors of the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork, said the area of land at Bessborough marked on historic maps as “childrens’ burial ground” remains under threat from development and excavation until the bill is enacted.

It has now written to all members of the Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration committee, which held pre-legislative scrutiny hearings on the bill in May, urging them to advance the process urgently.

The CSSA call comes in the context of a delay announced this week on a planning decision in relation to an appeal of the decision by Cork City Council to refuse planning for one of four apartment blocks in the proposed Gateway View residential housing scheme earmarked for a privately-owned site on the former Bessborough estate.

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Following an oral hearing in April, An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for the other three apartment blocks which were advanced separately through the strategic housing development (SHD) planning process.

An Bord Pleanála said it was not satisfied that the site was not previously used as, and does not contain, a children’s burial ground and considers that there are reasonable concerns in relation to the potential for a children's burial ground within the site, associated with the former use of the lands as a mother and baby home over the period 1922 to 1998.

An Bord Pleanála said it would be premature to grant permission for the proposed SHD development prior to establishing whether there is a children’s burial ground located within the site and the extent of any such burial ground.

But the CSSA said they are powerless to stop the landowner if a decision is made now to conduct an excavation on the land.

“The CSSA membership is composed of mothers of infants who died at Bessborough,” it said.

These mothers view excavation as further desecration of their babies' final resting place.

“Excavation is not appropriate for the Bessborough site which was farmed and ploughed historically, and subject to significant groundworks in recent years.

“The intrinsic value of the human remains at Bessborough far outways the minuscule evidential value of excavation.

“Please have compassion for the mothers who just want a place to go where they may lay a flower and think about their little angel.

“These issues are live, the threat of development and excavation is ongoing. It is long past time to pass the Institutional Burials Bill.

A spokesperson for the Oireachtas Committee said it agreed to prioritise the pre-legislative scrutiny of the bill and that it is “currently considering its final report" and the recommendations it will make to the Minister for Children.

Once agreed, the report will be published on the Oireachtas website and the progress of the bill to the next stage of the legislative process will then be a matter for the Department of Children.