Opposition pushes Government to purchase Bessborough mother and baby home site

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns raised the Bessborough mother and baby home in the Dáil on Wednesday (Liam McBurney/PA)

Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns renewed calls on the Government to use a compulsory purchase order (CPO) to buy the site of the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork.

Last week, An Coimisiún Pleanála granted permission to a private developer to build 106 apartments on the site.

The home was run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and operated between 1922 and 1998.

A 2021 Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes’ report found almost 20,000 women and children were admitted during that time.

On Tuesday, both Ms Cairns and Labour leader Ivana Bacik called on the Government to buy the site.

During Leaders’ Questions on Wednesday, Ms Cairns raised the issue again.

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, Micheál 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”.

The Taoiseach said he had met some survivors of the institution and claimed their perspective is ‘far different’ to that of Ms Cairns (Liam McBurney/PA)

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.”

An image of silhouettes of children and the names of children who died in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork are projected onto Sean Ross Abbey (Niall Carson/PA)

He quoted an article written by Cork Survivors Alliance founder Maureen Considine in the Irish Examiner, 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”.