Those who died in industrial institutions 'deserve to be treated with dignity and respect'

Head stones in memory of those who died in institutions at St Mary's cemetery, Curraghkippane Kerry Pike, Cork. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

In the corner of an expansive green area in a cemetery just outside Cork City stands a small tombstone to a mother and son, bearing the words: “What you both suffered shattered my life”.

The person who erected the tombstone, Mary Smith, was the daughter of the woman named on the tombstone, Eileen Smith, a mother Mary had never met.