Children's minister 'shares concerns' over existence of children's remains at Bessborough
The graveyard at the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Blackrock, Cork. Picture: Laura Hutton/RollingNews.ie
The Minister for Children said he shares campaigners' concerns about the potential existence of children’s remains at the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork.
Roderic O’Gorman has also confirmed his intention to make a submission to An Bord Pleanála on the contentious planning application for apartments on privately-owned land which was once part of the Bessborough estate.
He said he wants to assure Bessborough survivors and campaigners that those responsible for assessing the planning application will take full account of the findings of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, which was published today.
“I hope that my plan to make a submission to the relevant planning authorities provides some degree of reassurance ... that the interim and final reports of the commission will be taken into account and no gap in information will arise,” he said.
Survivors were braced today for the release of the commission report into one of the darkest chapters of recent Irish history.
It is expected to deal in detail with the scale of infant mortality at Bessborough, and raise concerns about burial arrangements.
The commission has already established that more than 900 children died in Bessborough or in hospital after being transferred from there.
However, despite “very extensive inquiries and searches”, it says it has been able to establish the burial place of only 64 children in various city cemeteries.
Members of the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance (CSSA), who believe hundreds of babies were buried on the Bessborough estate, are outraged at developers MWB Two’s plans for 246 apartments on a privately owned 3.7-acre parcel of land in the south-eastern corner of what was once the Bessborough estate.
The developers applied just before Christmas to Cork City Council for permission to build 67 apartments in an eight-storey building on the southern portion of the landbank, and separately, because of land zoning issues, to An Bord Pleanála through the fast-track strategic housing development (SHD) process, for 179 residential units in three buildings ranging in height from five to seven stories, on the northern portion of the landbank.
The SHD site overlaps an area of land identified on historic maps as a “children’s burial ground".
The CSSA raised their concerns about the residential plan directly with Mr O’Gorman in recent weeks.
In correspondence seen by the the minister said he is aware of the issue and understands the distress this has caused to "those most centrally connected to this issue".
He said the investigation of burial arrangements of persons who died while resident in mother and baby homes was a key focus of the terms of reference for the Commission.
And he said he shares the concerns of the CSSA in relation to the potential existence of children’s remains on the Bessborough site, and the outstanding questions about the specific location for burials on the site — matters already addressed by the commission in its fifth interim report.
He said on foot of legal advice, he couldn’t accede to the CSSA’s request for sight of the commission’s final report, or the chapter on Bessborough, before the planning deadline, notwithstanding their offer to provide a written undertaking not to release the report to anyone else.
“While I accept the bona fides of your intentions, unfortunately, I am advised that I am precluded from providing a copy of the indicated chapter in advance of the general release of the report into the public domain," he said.
“While noting that the consultant’s report submitted by the developer references the final report of the commission, nevertheless I am planning to make a submission to the planning process as Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, in respect of the SHD application, to ensure that the interim and final reports of the Commission of Investigation are taken into account by the planning authorities when considering planning applications.”
Meanwhile, Cork's city councillors are set to discuss calls for a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on certain lands at Bessborough.
Independent councillor Thomas Moloney said consideration should be given to CPO-ing the land and designating the area that campaigners believe is a "children’s burial ground" part of the Cork city cemeteries section.
City councillors said several complex legal issues would need to be considered before the local authority could embark on such a move but they have agreed to discuss it further.
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