Cross-party Cork politicians call on Government to acquire former Bessborough mother and baby home lands
The gates of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork were covered with teddy bears during a vigil which saw scores of people gather to protest Cork City Council’s approval of 140 apartments despite concerns over the burial places of 923 children. Picture: Chani Anderson
Nine of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s 10 Oireachtas colleagues representing Cork city have written to him urging the Government to acquire the 60-acre grounds of the former Bessborough mother and baby institution.
The letter is signed by three Government TDs, including two from Fianna Fáil.
Their intervention comes after An Coimisiún Pleanála last week cleared the way for the construction of 106 apartments on the site, despite concerns that hundreds of missing children may be buried there.
In their letter, the Oireachtas members urge the Government to acquire the site "either through a negotiated acquisition or, failing that, through a CPO if necessary".
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The letter also calls on Mr Martin to meet representatives of Bessborough survivors and campaigners, and asks the Government to support Cork City Council's proposal that the Bessborough lands become a site of national conscience.
There are 10 TDs representing the city's two constituencies — five in Cork North-Central and five in Cork South-Central — including Mr Martin, along with one senator, Labour's Laura Harmon.
The letter is signed by Fianna Fáil TDs Pádraig O’Sullivan and Séamus McGrath, Fine Gael TD and former junior minister Colm Burke, Sinn Féin TDs Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire and Thomas Gould, Labour TD Eoghan Kenny and Senator Laura Harmon, Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn, and Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice.
The other Cork city TD, Fine Gael junior minister Jerry Buttimer, said he felt it was more appropriate to make his case directly within Government and had spoken extensively with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste.
Mr Ó Laoghaire, who organised the letter, said it was a cross-party effort that recognised the depth of feeling surrounding the issue.
“What could potentially happen at Bessborough is profoundly wrong and would heap further pain and trauma upon survivors,” he said.
“In our view, the State to acquire the site, voluntarily, if possible, but, if necessary, by compulsory purchase order, and the lands should become a site of national conscience.”
During Leaders' Questions on Wednesday, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns renewed calls on the Government to use a CPO to buy the Bessborough site.
She told the Dáil: “The Government knows that 859 children and 19 women who were incarcerated at Bessborough are missing, presumed dead.
“It knows that the Commission investigation into mother and baby homes said it was highly likely that burials had taken place on this land.”
On Tuesday, Mr Martin told the Dáil that the Government would only appoint a director of authorised intervention, an independent body to excavate the land and analyse, identify and reinter any human remains discovered, when “it is satisfied that burials have taken place and there is evidence those burials are manifestly inappropriate”.
He said he had been advised that “the legal threshold cannot currently be met”.
Picking up on these comments on Wednesday, Ms Cairns said: “You’re telling us that you’re powerless to act because legislation that your last government drafted and enacted is preventing you?
“This really is beneath contempt.”
She continued: “Are you actually trying to say that these burials were in any way manifestly appropriate?
“That discarding the remains of hundreds of children without a scrap of paper recording of the burial location is appropriate?”
Responding, Mr Martin said he had met some survivors of the institution and said: “Their perspective is far different to yours in respect of Bessborough.”
He quoted an article written by Cork Survivors Alliance founder Maureen Considine in the , in which she said demands for disturbance of remains without the “explicit input and consent” of mothers is “not an act of justice”; rather it is a “repetition of the original trauma where an institution exerted control over their children’s burial”.
Mr Martin said the group “don’t believe” the area of land which received the planning permission is where babies are buried.
He accused Ms Cairns of “distorting” and “conflating” things, and added: “It’s 60 acres we’re talking about here. The planning permission for housing is not for the entirety of the 60 acres.”
She replied and said the Commission of Investigation found “it’s highly likely there are babies buried on the grounds”, but how they came to that recommendation is “sealed”.
While examinations at similar sites in Tuam and Sean Ross Abbey involved taking soil samples and the use of ground penetrating radar, she said: “We don’t have it for Bessborough. We don’t know why”.
She claimed the Government’s argument that a threshold of evidence has not been met is “by design”, adding: “It is very clearly by design that we don’t have this information.”
In response, Mr Martin told her: “You can’t draw conclusions from yesterday in terms of what the Government’s position on this ultimately will be, because we said we would reflect on it”.
— Bairbre Holmes
The Sacred Heart Sisters ran Bessborough from 1922 to 1998. During that period, 923 known infant deaths occurred in their care. Burial records were not kept for 859 of those children.
The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation concluded in 2021 that it was "highly likely" some of the missing children were buried on the institution's grounds. The bodies of 19 women who died there also remain unaccounted for.
Of the original 200-acre Bessborough estate, 60 acres remain undeveloped.
In June 2022, a year after the commission's findings, Cork City councillors voted to rezone the remaining Bessborough lands for residential development.
At this week's council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to call on the Government to consider compulsorily purchasing the site.
Earlier this week, the Taoiseach told the Dáil it had long been his view that the council should have bought the land "back in the late '80s to the '90s".
Although he did not rule out a compulsory purchase of the grounds, Mr Martin said consideration must be given to the possibility that no bodies would be found within the specific area earmarked for development.
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