Order that ran Tuam home refuses to say if exhumation funds offer has increased
THE order of nuns that ran the infamous mother and baby home in Tuam has refused to say if it has increased its offer of €2.5m towards the cost of excavating the site where hundreds of infants are believed to have been improperly buried.
The cost of the plans for the children’s remains to be exhumed for DNA testing and possible identification has been estimated at between €6m and €13m.
The previous Fine Gael-led government had sought a larger contribution towards the costs from the Sisters of Bon Secours, but in 2018 then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil that the €2.5m offer is “what is forthcoming”.
The Sisters of Bon Secours this week issued an apology for the treatment of women and children at Tuam and the “disrespectful and unacceptable” way infants who died were buried. It also confirmed it would participate in a future redress scheme for survivors.
It came following the publication of the report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.
However, the order has refused to say if it has increased its offer to contribute to the costs of the planned excavation work at Tuam.
A spokesperson said: “We have no comment to make regarding the exhumation process.”
The order also declined to give an indication of the sums they would contribute to the Government’s planned Restorative Recognition Scheme (RRS) for survivors, saying: “We have no idea what the Redress Scheme will cost at this point.”
The scandal of what happened at Tuam was revealed by historian Catherine Corless.
The Commission of Investi
‘We have no idea what the redress scheme will cost’
gation into Mother and Baby homes around the country was set up as a result of her work.
Children Minister Roderic O’Gorman has written to the religious orders that ran the homes seeking a meeting to discuss contributions to the planned RRS.
The legislation needed to allow for the exhumation of the children’s remains at Tuam is to be passed this year.
His department did not say if he had made a renewed request that the Sisters of Bon Secours contribute more to the cost of this work.
A statement said: “The donation by the Sisters of
Bon Secours was a voluntary contribution to the works to take place on the site of Tuam mother and baby home, once the required legislation is enacted.
“The level of contribution is a matter for Congregation.”
In 2018 Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dáil that the Sisters of Bon Secours should pay at least 50pc of the cost, claiming the €2.5m offer was “entirely inadequate”.
Mr Varadkar said that the then Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone had sought a higher contribution “but this is what is forthcoming”.