Decision on proposed apartments at Bessborough site due in July

The gates of Bessborough Mother were covered with teddy bears during a vigil this month  which saw people gather to protest Cork City Council’s approval of the apartments. Picture: Chani Anderson

A decision on whether 140 apartments can be built on the site of a notorious Cork mother and baby institution is due in July.

Last month, Cork City Council granted permission to Estuary View Enterprises 2020 to demolish almost a dozen buildings at Bessborough in Blackrock, to make way for the apartments.

Between 1922 and 1998, the Sacred Heart nuns ran Bessborough, and in 2021, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission reported 923 child deaths relating to the institution.

However, with only 64 burial records existing, the commission concluded it was “highly likely” burials had occurred at Bessborough.

The Bessborough estate, with its centrepiece the late 18th-century manor, originally covered 200 acres. In the 1970s, the then Cork Corporation compulsorily purchased 140 acres of the lands, which were later developed as Mahon Industrial Park, LoughMahon Technology Park, and Mahon Retail Park, as well as a section of the N40 road.

The 140 apartments granted planning permission are proposed by the same developer behind two previous planning attempts on the site.

The current plans would see the units spread across three blocks, with two blocks comprising a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments. The proposed third block comprised a mix of 47 one and two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit.

Separate appeals have been lodged with An Coimisiún Pleanála by the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home Support Group and by Labour Party city councillor Peter Horgan.

In its appeal, the Bessborough group described the site as one of “profound national significance”, and any groundworks occurring there would risk disturbing human remains.

Mr Horgan, in his appeal, quoted the Bessborough group as previously noting that the site contains “a landscape of trauma, loss, and unmarked burials”, with survivor testimony indicating burials across the site including the locations of the proposed development.

The planning commission is due to decide on the appeal by July 9.

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