Tuam baby home exhumation will be 'one of the most complex ever undertaken'

Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman said he shared the frustration people had expressed that the exhumation of the 800 babies' remains had not yet happened. Picture: Andy Newman

The exhumation at the Tuam mother and baby home will be one of the most complex forensic excavations ever undertaken, “not only in Ireland, but anywhere in the world”, Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman has said.

He said new legislation will provide the legal basis to conduct the exhumation and said there will be more involvement of family members and former residents in the process.

Speaking in the Dáil at the second stage of the Institutional Burials Bill 2022, he acknowledged the “sense of urgency and frustration” among family members at the delay at the publication of the legislation.

Irish Red Cross secretary general Catrina Sheridan (right) presented historian Catherine Corless with a Red Cross lifetime achievement award for her work in uncovering the true story behind the Tuam mother and baby home. Picture: Andrew Downes, Xposure

In 2014, local historian Catherine Corless, revealed that almost 800 babies and young children had died and were buried in an old sewage system at the Galway home.

The institution, run by the Congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours order, took in unmarried mothers and their children between 1925 and 1961.

“This will be one of the most complex forensic excavation and recovery efforts ever undertaken, not only in Ireland, but anywhere in the world,” Mr O’Gorman said.

“It will encompass a DNA identification process on a scale never done before in Ireland.” He said what happened at Tuam was “a stain on our national conscience”.

“I have heard the sense of urgency and frustration around why the exhumation has not happened yet. I share that frustration.

“These families want to give their loved ones the respect and dignity they were so grievously denied in their short lives.” He said that following an examination of the General Scheme of the bill by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, his department had made a number of changes, including:

• Removal of the restriction on the jurisdiction of the Coroner;
• The legislation now requires that the forensic investigation must be done to international standards;
• Increased transparency and accountability by increasing involvement for stakeholders such as family members and former residents.

The minister paid tribute to the work of all those involved, in particular Catherine Corless:

She became a voice for those children, and the State owes her a debt. 

The minister stressed that the legislation was not specific to just one site: “While Tuam will be the first such excavation and exhumation, I know that there are concerns about other sites, like Sean Ross and Bessborough.” Sinn Féin’s mental health spokesperson, Pat Buckley TD, said: “It’s a happy day, but a sad day.”