Order finally says sorry for horrors of hell hole graves

NOTORIOUS Tuam home, Co Galway

A CAMPAIGNER for victims of the infamous Tuam mother and baby home has welcomed a statement from the Sisters of Bon Secours.

The inquiry was established after historian Catherine Corless, below, helped uncover the remains of 800 babies interred in an unmarked mass grave at the former institution.

She said she couldn’t believe it when she heard an “honest and clear statement” from the order, which acknowledged babies were not buried properly.

She added: “I thought it would take a lot more lobbying, a lot more begging.

“I’m grateful to the Bon Secours sisters.

“Hopefully what will follow is other institutions, the nuns who ran the orphanages and mother and baby homes, that they will follow suit.”

The Bon Secours sisters ran St Mary’s home from 1925 to 1961.

STATEMENT

In a statement, it offered its “profound apologies to the women and children of St Mary’s, their families and the people of Ireland”.

Sister Eileen O’connor wrote: “The commission’s report presents a history of our country in which many women and children were rejected, silenced and excluded, in which they were subjected to hardship and in which their inherent human dignity was disrespected, in life and in death.

“Our Sisters of Bon Secours were part of this sorrowful history.

“We did not live up to our Christianity when running the home.

“We were part of the system in which women and children suffered hardship, loneliness and terrible hurt.

“We acknowledge infants and children who died were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way.”

Catherine described how one man told her he just wants to go to his mother’s grave and tell her the nuns have said sorry for what they did.

She added: “I do hope they show remorse in another way, because the cost has been talked about exhuming those babies and doing DNA tests. Surely they might help in that way.”