Legacy of suffering almost impossible to comprehend
1925
A former workhouse in Tuam is converted into a Mother and Baby home run by the Bon Secours Sisters.
Unmarried woman were sent to the home to give birth – it was one of 18 homes where nearly 56,000 unmarried woman gave birth during the period where these women were ostracized by society and often their own families. Between 1925 and 1961 one child in the Tuam home died every two weeks.
1961 The Bon Secours home, owned by the council, is closed with remaining residents transferred to other similar homes.
1972 The home is demolished and a housing estate is built.
1975 Children playing near the site discover skeletal remains which are assumed to be famine-era.
2012 Local historian Catherine Corless publishes years’ worth of research into the former mother and baby home in an article entitled ‘The Home’ in the Journal of the Old Tuam Society.
‘The closing of the Tuam’s Mother and Baby Home, in 1961, did not bring to an end the sad legacy for those who had been resident there.
‘What I found was that a staggering number of children lost their lives in the home. I noted several advertisements in the Tuam Herald archives, placed by the Home for “Tenders for Coffins”.’
‘Is it possible that a large number of those little children were buried in that little plot at the rear of the former Home? And if so, why is it not acknowledged as a proper cemetery?’
2013 Ms Corless begins a mission to find the death certificates of 798 children who died at the Home, but only locates two burial records.
February 2014 In an interview with the Connacht Tribune, Ms Corless calls for a permanent memorial for the babies buried on the site.
May 2014 The Irish Mail on Sunday breaks the story that there are up to 800 babies secretly buried in a ‘mass grave’ sparking a national inquiry and international attention.
June 2014 The government orders a Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby homes.
2015 The Commission is established to look into the living conditions, mortality rates, residents’ cause of death, burial arrangements, adoption processes and vaccine trials in the 18 homes across 76 years from 1922 to 1998.
2016 A test dig on the Tuam site begins, this excavates a portion of the site where the septic tank chambers are located.
2017 The Commission confirms that ‘significant quantities of human remains’ have been found during excavations at the site in Tuam.
Archaeologists found a large underground tank divided into 20 chambers which was a disused sewage system. The Taoiseach at the time Enda Kenny said it was a ‘chamber of horrors’.
2018 The Minister for Children at the time Katherine Zappone announces plans for excavation of the site.
Ms Corless is honoured at the People of the Year awards for her work.
2019 The Commission concludes that 802 children and 12 mothers died in the home in 26 years.
2021 The final report from the Commission of the Investigation is published, which concludes that about 9,000 children died in the 18 homes examined.
Then Taoiseach Mícheál Martin issues a state apology to the former residents.
The Sisters of Bon Secours offer their ‘profound apologies’ to the women and children who resided in the Tuam home.
2022 Institutional Burials Bill is introduced in the Dáil in February and is enacted by July.
The government approves the establishment of an independent Office to lead an intervention at the site of the former Mother and Baby institution in Tuam.
2023 In March a Ministerial order establishes the Office of Director of Authorised Intervention for Tuam and has 30 months to complete the work. In May Daniel MacSweeney is appointed as director.
2024 Work continues on preparing the site and setting up forensic operations needed to identify remains. Ground has not been broken on the site.