Irish Examiner view: Scene of shame at Tuam may give closure

Families deserve something approaching closure after all this time

Ceramic blossom flowers at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home mass grave site laid to remember those who were forgotten. Picture: Ray Ryan

The horrifying situation in Tuam, Co Galway, has been a national shame ever since it was confirmed over a decade ago that the remains of hundreds of children who had died in the local mother and baby home were thrown into a nearby septic tank.

Even now, that bald assertion of fact retains the power to shock. It is an unmatchable illustration of the level of hypocrisy in Irish society over many decades that this was allowed to happen, and the conduct of the Bons Secours nuns — who ran the home for Galway County Council — illustrates that hypocrisy perfectly.