'Bessborough could be next Tuam' - Catherine Corless

The Galway historian, whose research established that 796 children were buried in a septic tank at a former mother and baby home in Tuam, says she believes that similar burial practices were carried out in Bessborough in the 40s and 50s.

Local Tuam historian Catherine Corless, pictured beside a grotto in the grounds where the unmarked mass grave containing the remains of nearly 800 infants who died at the Bon Secours mother-and-baby home in Tuam from 1925-1961. Photo: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie

Campaigner and historian Catherine Corless fears Cork’s Bessborough site hides horrors similar to those found at a former mother and baby home in Tuam.

The Galway historian, whose research established that 796 children were buried in a septic tank at a former mother and baby home in Tuam - a story which sent shockwaves across the globe - said she believes that similar burial practices were carried out in Bessborough in the 1940s and 1950s.