Names of Bessborough children read aloud as campaigners vow to fight on against development plan

Of 923 children, burial records exist for only 64, meaning the final resting place of 859 children is unknown

Families against development at Bessborough met at the site on Sunday to highlight their objections to proposed developments. Almost 900 names of Bessborough children were read aloud. Picture: Noel Sweeney

The minute’s silence outside the gates of Bessborough was broken only by birdsong and the shrieks and shouts of children playing in nearby housing estates.

A reading aloud of almost 900 of the names of children who died there or after discharge from the former mother and baby institution in Cork had taken a full 50 minutes.

About 60 people gathered at the gates of Bessborough on Sunday to protest the decision by Cork City Council in February to grant planning permission for the building of 140 apartments on what survivors say should be sacred ground.

Between 1922 and 1998, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary ran Bessborough as a mother and baby institution.

In that time, 9,768 mothers and 8,938 babies were admitted there, and according to the General Registry Office (GRO), death certificates were issued for 816 Bessborough children.

However, in 2021, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission reported that it was aware of 923 child deaths related to Bessborough, 107 more than the nuns had disclosed to the GRO.

So far, survivors have managed to piece together the names of 72 of those 107 children, bringing to 888 the number of Bessborough children for whom names are publicly available. 

The names of the remaining 35 of the total 923 children remain unknown.

Of those 923 children, burial records exist for only 64, meaning the final resting place of 859 children is also unknown.

Five years ago, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission concluded it was “highly likely” that some of those missing children were buried on Bessborough’s grounds.

After Sunday’s reading of the Bessborough children’s names was complete, Noelle Brown, a Social Democrat member of Dublin City Council, spoke.

Born in the mother and baby institution in the 1960s and adopted at eight weeks, Ms Brown said those left behind owed a debt to those children to keep fighting on their behalf, to prevent the development of the land which may be their burial ground.

“That land is sacred, so I ask you to stay with us in this fight, because it is a fight, like every single thing to do with these issues, it’s a fight, it’s a battle,” she said.

“I’m not on that list. I survived. I got out.

“And that’s why I call myself a survivor. I’m here. And those infants and children aren’t.

“It’s up to all of us to keep them in our memory, to let them never be forgotten.” 

A decision by An Coimisiún Pleanála on two separate appeals against planning permission at Bessborough is due on July 9.