Award for researcher who broke Tuam story
CATHERINE Corless, the woman who uncovered the Tuam Mother and Baby Home scandal, is to be honoured with a Special Award for Investigative Research at the NewsBrands Ireland Journalism Awards on Thursday.
Ms Corless’s research uncovered evidence of a mass grave containing the remains of babies and children at the Tuam Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home. It forced the Government to launch a commission of investigation.
‘I am very privileged to be offered this Special Award for Investigative Research from NewsBrands Ireland,’ she said. ‘My initial research was to be just a simple synopsis of the history of the home itself for the 2012 local Tuam Historical Annual. But the more I delved into the archives and listened to survivors’ accounts of their lives there, I realised this story deserved much more intensive research.
‘I got a true insight into what life was like in the home, from an old taped interview of a woman who lived her whole life [there], and her account was heart-rending.’
NewsBrands Ireland chairman Vincent Crowley said: ‘This special award is in recognition of Catherine’s vital part in unearthing both the tragedy and the extent of what had happened in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home.
‘Without her work, the Press would not have been able to tell the story.’