Cork City Council group to examine issues raised for it by mother and baby homes report

The Irish Examiner's front page image naming all the children known to have died at Bessborough mother and baby home projected on to Athlone Castle in Co Westmeath as part of the Herstory light show on St Brigid's Day. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

A working group is being set up by Cork City Council to consider issues which have arisen for the local authority following the publication of the mother and baby homes report.

Campaigners who represent survivors of the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork City described the move as a step in the right direction.

However, the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance said they want to see action — “deeds not words” — and have slight reservations that the group will meet in private.

News of the working group emerged at the start of last night’s city council meeting when the Lord Mayor, Joe Kavanagh, read a statement prepared by the party whips.

Mr Kavanagh said they acknowledged the publication of the Commission of Investigation’s final report into mother and baby homes, the apology on behalf of the State by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and “Cork City Council’s association with same”.

Maureen Considine and Catherine Coffey-O'Brien of the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance laying flowers near the Folly at Bessborough last week. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

“Government has committed to the development of an action plan and we commit fully to playing our part in delivering on local actions such as memorialisations or whatever actions come out of the action plan for local authorities,” the statement said.

“I am proposing to put in place a working group comprised of party whips and party leaders to deal with all such matters arising from the investigation into mother and baby homes.

“This will meet in committee taking into consideration the many associated sensitivities."

He said the group will be the key vehicle for elected members to deal with all specific issues relating to mother and baby homes, and that the group will feed back into party whips and onwards to full council.

Last week, city planners refused planning for a 67-unit eight-storey apartment building on part of a 3.7-acre parcel of privately-owned land close to the former Bessborough mother and baby home, which has been earmarked for the Gateway View residential development.

The developers, MWB Two Ltd, are awaiting a decision from An Bord Pleanála under the Strategic Housing Development process on their application for the larger element of the scheme — 179 apartments in three buildings ranging from five to seven storeys, with a creche, step-down housing, and facilities for the elderly — on an adjoining part of the landbank. A decision is due next month.

Campaigners believe part of this development site overlaps with a children's burial ground.