The Deirdre O'Shaughnessy Podcast: Paving over Bessborough's missing babies

Survivors and relatives express anger after planning permission granted for apartments on site linked to hundreds of infant deaths

Anger after apartments approved for site of Cork’s Bessborough mother and baby home where hundreds of babies died.

The granting of planning permission last week for 140 apartments on the site of Cork’s most infamous mother and baby institution has caused deep upset among survivors and relatives of those who were incarcerated in Bessborough.

Hundreds of babies died at Bessborough between 1922 and 1994, and the Mother and Baby Homes Commission found they were most likely buried on the sprawling grounds of the former institution. Their bodies have never been located, yet there are now plans to build on the site.