Tuam baby home campaigner honoured

THE volunteer historian who uncovered details of a mass grave at the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam has been honoured as a ‘fearless campaigner for human rights’.

Catherine Corless was awarded the Bar of Ireland’s Human Rights Award in Dublin yesterday evening.

Ms Corless said she hoped the award would help give more survivors of mother and baby homes the strength to come forward to tell their story.

In 2013, Ms Corless discovered official records showing that 798 infants and children had died at the home in Tuam, Co. Galway. Her evidence was published in The Irish Mail on Sunday, which prompted the Government to announce a Commission of Investigation into the matter.

It announced earlier this year that it had found ‘a significant number of human remains’ on the site of the home, which had been run until the early 1960s by the Bon Secours Sisters.

Ms Corless believes most of the 798 infants and children are buried on the site, part of which had a local authority estate built on it in the 1970s. She said she was ‘truly honoured’ to receive the award.

‘My work campaigning on behalf of the survivors of mother and baby homes continues and I hope that this special award will give even more survivors the strength to come forward to tell their story,’ she said.

Ms Corless added: ‘With each and every testimony the truth is uncovered further and our campaign for justice to prevail is strengthened. I share this award with all the survivors – this is for them.’

The Bar of Ireland’s Human Rights Award is presented to a person or organisation who has shown exceptional humanitarian service. In 2016 it was awarded to the Irish Naval Service for its work on the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean Sea.