On us is on Government to find babies’ burial sites
THE Government needs to ‘take up the gauntlet’ left by the Commission of Investigation and find where babies are buried in former mother and baby homes to avoid ‘magnifying the hurt’ of survivors, according to archaeologist Toni Maguire.
Ms Maguire, who has worked on behalf of survivors in establishing possible burial sites, said the test excavation carried out by the Commission of Investigation at the former Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home in Co. Tipperary,
did what it set out to do which was to establish that babies were buried there. Given that 42 infants were found in a small section of the burial ground, she believes it’s highly likely there are burials outside of the designated plot. She told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The excavation
carried out by the team uncovered 42 bodies and it was a test excavation of 10% of the known area, so it’s likely the full area contains around 420 or so bodies which would not account for the 1,000 or so deaths at the home. It’s likely there’s multiple burials but until you excavate properly, you won’t know. The question we have to ask is, “Is the site we’re looking at the full size of the burial ground?” and I think the judge in the commission has left the door open to that because we really haven’t answered that question.’ Ms Maguire said it is crucial for survivors that the exact location of remains is found and maintained.
She added: ‘It means everything to them; for so many years survivors and the adopted people coming back for information have been totally discredited. The information is showing they were actually correct.’