Corless calls for digs at other baby homes
HISTORIAN Catherine Corless, whose research uncovered the deaths of hundreds of children at a mother and baby home in Tuam, has called for full excavations to be carried out at other homes.
She was referring to homes highlighted in the latest report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, which was issued during the week.
Ms Corless told the Irish Mail on Sunday that it was clear from the fifth interim report that the commission feels information has been withheld by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary order, which ran the Seán Ross Abbey, Castlepollard and Bessborough homes.
The commission found that the order’s affidavit concerning burial practices in these homes was ‘in many respects, speculative, inaccurate and misleading’.
Despite a canon law requirement to keep burial records, there was ‘no evidence that any record of burials was kept by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in respect of burials in Castlepollard and Sean Ross’, the report found.
The commission, headed by judge Yvonne Murphy, has been investigating Ireland’s mother and baby homes for four years. Its final report is due in February 2020.
In June 2014, the MoS, which broke the story of the suspected burial ground at Tuam, commissioned a top engineering company to conduct a ground-penetrating radar survey of the Tuam site. This survey found ‘anomalies’ under the surface. The findings, along with Ms Corless’s extensive research, led to the excavation of the site.
That excavation proved it had been a burial site, leading to the establishment of the commission of investigation. Ms Corless believes the latest revelations warrant greater investigation. ‘The Sisters gave misleading information. For the commission to come out with that, that’s putting these institutions to the test now,’ she said. The commission had major concerns concerning burials at Bessborough in Cork, where, of the 900-plus children believed to have died either there or at the nearby hospital, the whereabouts of only 64 have been confirmed. It found that an angel’s plot – visited by former residents and relatives of those who died at the home – holds only one child. It added that the Sacred Heart order ‘does not know where the other children are buried’. Similarly, of the 1,000-plus children and 29 mothers who died at Seán Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, or its nearest hospital, ‘there is no certainty about where they are buried’. A geophysical survey was carried out at the grounds of the Tipperary home earlier this year following concerns about its designated burial ground. The results of this survey are being reviewed.
Ms Corless said: ‘I think they’ll have to do the same level of investigation in Seán Ross and Bessborough as they did in Tuam, because the same carry-on went on. It’s clear you can’t believe what the religious tell us. I’d want to see these areas excavated properly.
‘It’s now or never. If they get away with this, there’s just no hope at all. I think they should be charged the same as any ordinary citizen.’
Ms Corless was overwhelmed by the level of evidence collected in the excavation in Tuam, and the details in the accompanying report. She said this justified investigation at other homes across the country.
‘People thought it would be impossible to get DNA but it’s unbelievable what’s come out. There’s teeth and skulls intact. Fair play to the commission for revealing this.
‘Pressure needs to be put on for investigations to be carried out, because the level of evidence in Tuam just shows exactly how extensive this was. Survivors will be pressing for more evidence now. It’s incredible what these institutions got away with.’
She added: ‘The consensus was that these babies were illegitimate, that they were not worthwhile. The orders thought they would get a bit of money on the adoptions and those that died were discarded.
‘But these institutions should be held to account now.’
‘Unbelievable what’s been found at Tuam’