Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
800 babies dug up at mass grave
» Order’s£2.2m not enough says sister of victims » ‘Huge day for survivors’ hailed by campaigner
NEARLY 800 dead babies callously buried in unmarked graves are to be dug up, it was confirmed yesterday.
The excavation will aim to identify the victims of the brutal mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.
But the Bon Secours nuns who ran it have offered to contribute just £2.2million of the potential £11.5million cost.
Last night a woman whose two brothers died at the home called for the order to cough up.
Anna Corrigan “cautiously welcomed” the forensic excavation but insisted her fight for answers is far from over.
The 62-year-old said: “They actually put them in there, so they should pay to take them out.
“I don’t think the liability should be on the taxpayer, because they [nuns] have done wrong. They’re quite a rich organisation.”
It is more than five years since local historian Catherine Corless discovered official records showing 798 infants and children had died at the Co Galway site.
Now attempts will be made to exhume them all and identify them through DNA testing.
Ms Corless told RTE Radio’s Ray D’arcy Show yesterday: “I’m very thankful to the Government and especially to [Children’s] Minister [Katherine] Zappone who has stood by us for so long.
“It’s a huge day for all the survivors. This, to me, is a total acknowledgement of what happened.”
Ms Zappone said: “I understand this is a hugely important decision for all connected to the site in Tuam, most especially those who believe they may have a loved one buried there and those now living close to the site. It is the right thing to do.”
The minister added the task
“has never been undertaken or contemplated previously”.
She said: “It has taken us more time than first anticipated to examine the unprecedented technical and legal issues which arise in seeking to appropriately respond to the tragic discovery of comingled juvenile remains at this site.”
Ms Corrigan has told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar the heinous crimes against women and children constitute “genocide”.
She added: “From a personal point of view I have two police inquiries into what happened to my brothers. Both of them were born in the Tuam home.
“It’s actually a crime scene in relation to what happened to my brothers.
“The one thing that did jump out, and it has been highlighted to me by members of the group, is ‘excavation of the available site’ – we don’t understand what that means.”
Ms Corrigan contributed to a book published earlier this year, My Name Is Bridget, that told the story of her mum Bridget Dolan’s tragic life at the mercy of demon nuns.
She said: “We could take this realistically outside the State, because we’re nearly into genocide here as I told the Taoiseach last night [Monday].
“Forcefully transferring children of a group to another group and that was done because they were illegitimate Catholics. Causing serious bodily and mental harm to members of the group, so I mean that comes under the Genocide Act.
“There were illegal adoptions, so it’s quite possible not all of the children are actually in the grave.
“After all we’ve been through we can’t jump for joy. We have to see what it entails but it is a good starting point.”