'Why is there a difference between Tuam and Bessborough?'

A brother and sister adopted to the US were both born in Bessborough. Mike and Angela knew they were adopted, and both have visited the former mother and baby home in recent years. Some details are still unaccounted for

Angela Collins, left, and Michael McKeirnan, who were adopted from Bessborough to the US. 

For Michael McKeirnan and Angela Collins, who both live in Washington State, the news Cork City Council has granted planning permission for 140 apartments to be built on the grounds of Bessborough mother and baby home might come from far away, but it’s a story that strikes close to the bone.

Michael, known as Mike, lives in the town of Walla Walla, while his sister Angela lives in Seattle. Both were born in Bessborough mother and baby home and adopted to the same Irish-American family in the early 1960s.