Niece of 'Mollie' who died aged 13 asks minister for education where her body is

Mary Mollie Corrigan was born in 1905 and died aged 13 at an industrial school. Her burial place is unknown.

The niece of a girl who died in an industrial school in Galway has written to Education Minister Norma Foley demanding to know where her remains are.

Mary Mollie Corrigan was taken from her family in North Dublin when she was six years old on the grounds of "want of proper guardianship" when her mother died.

She was later sentenced to 10 years at St Bridget’s Industrial School in Loughrea, Co Galway.

The teenager died of pneumonia on November 1, 1918, when she was 13, without ever seeing her family again. There are no burial records for her.

Now, her niece Anna Corrigan has written to the Government through her solicitors requesting information on Mary’s final resting place.

Ms Corrigan told the Irish Examiner: “I can’t find her grave and I’ve been looking into this since 2014.

“Mary must be one of thousands missing. I can find no official figure for the graves of industrial school children.”

Mary Mollie Corrigan's death certificate.

The legal letter sent by KRW Law on April 3 to the Department of Education on behalf of Ms Corrigan and seen by the Irish Examiner, said: “If manifestly inappropriate burials are discovered at a site associated with an industrial school, it would be for the minister for education to consider bringing forward a proposal to establish a director of authorised intervention for that site”.

In school reports provided by the Mercy Nuns and dated October 12, 1915, Mary was described as "a good child, very satisfactory and a little bit giddy". 

Mary Mollie died from influenza and pneumonia but there is no information on her file that points to where she was buried.

St Brigid's Industrial School in Loughrea was managed by the Sisters of Mercy from 1869 and to 1967 and was originally certified to accommodate 150 girls.

The Department of Education said: “The department does not comment on individual cases.

“When the department receives correspondence raising issues of concern, including issues relating to industrial schools, it engages directly with the correspondent.”