We can’t forget these children
Pressure mounts on Taoiseach to set up investigation and commemorate the 800 infants who were buried in a mass grave
THE Taoiseach is under pressure to investigate the burial of almost 800 children at a former home for unmarried mothers in Tuam, Co. Galway, as fresh details emerge about similar graves around the country.
This follows shocking revelations in the Irish Mail on Sunday last week.
Now TDs are set to call on Enda Kenny in the Dáil to initiate an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of the children who lived in an institution run by Bon Secours nuns.
And pressure is mounting on the Government to provide a memorial to the hundreds of children who were buried in a disused septic tank on the grounds of the former home for unmarried mothers.
Tuam-based Fianna Fáil TD Colm Keaveney has called for a memorial to be built. The Tuam Children’s Home Graveyard Committee is campaigning for one and has started raising funds.
Mr Keaveney said: ‘I have called on the Taoiseach to investigate this matter for the events themselves and the legacy which they have left,’ he said.
‘We cannot forget the legacy of these dark times, and how women and children were treated. Hundreds of children go missing from HSE care every year and we must be mindful of what goes on now, as well as in the past.’
Mr Keaveney also revealed that negotiations had begun with the Catholic hierarchy to erect a monument in Tuam.
He has tabled a Dáil parliamentary question that reads: ‘To ask the Taoiseach will he initiate an investigation into the circumstances of the death and burial of an estimated 800 children, who had been residents of the Tuam mother and children home run by the Bon Secours order; to make funding available from his department in order to raise a suitable memorial over the site: and if he will make a statement on the matter.’
Mr Keaveney said: ‘It is important that we mark what happened at this place, so that we can learn the lesson of the dark events of our past. But also to remember those who suffered here and at other institutions.’
Other TDs and senators are now rowing into the campaign to have
‘They were human beings, not animals’
an investigation and a memorial, including Galway Fine Gael senator, Hildegarde Naughton.
It is suspected that as many as 796 children were buried in an unmarked site next to the former Bon Secours house, which took in single women and their children from 1925 to 1961.
The babies, usually buried in a plain shroud without a coffin or memorial, died from conditions as diverse as malnutrition, measles, convulsions, tuberculosis, gastroenteritis and pneumonia, inspection reports show.
Teresa Kelly, chairwoman of the Children’s Home Graveyard Committee, said an excavation was long overdue.
‘It’s an awful story,’ she said. ‘Many of the babies were malnourished. We want to make sure those children’s identities are acknowledged. They had names, they were born to some woman and man, they were human beings, not animals.’
Though now surrounded by a housing estate, the burial site may now be excavated thanks to a missing persons report made to gardaí by a relative of William Joseph Dolan, a boy who lived there.
The relative, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the MoS: ‘No one knows the total number of babies in the grave. There are 796 death records but they are only the ones we know of. God knows who else is in the grave.’
In a story that bears comparison with the film Philomena, a young single woman called Bridget Dolan from Clonfert, Co. Galway, gave birth to two boys who were placed in the home.
Records show that John Desmond Dolan was born on February 22, 1946, weighing 8lb 9oz. His birth was recorded as ‘normal’ but he died from measles on June 11, 1947.
His brother William Joseph Dolan was born on May 21, 1950, and died on February 3, 1951, but without a death certificate. The
relative said: ‘I just want to know what happened to him. He could still be alive or he’s with his brother in the grave. I want to find out. It could be another illegal adoption. This is a case for the gardaí – that’s why I’ve made a report.’ The exist- ence of the mass grave was uncovered by local woman Catherine Corless, who compiled the death records of 796 babies and has set up the Children’s Home Graveyard Committee. The report of a 1944 inspection makes for harrowing reading. On the day of the official’s visit, 271 children were listed as living in the home along with 61 single mothers – a total of 333 occu- pants in a home designed to house 243. The grave was stumbled upon in the 1970s by two 12-year-olds, Barry Sweeney and Francis Hopkins. This weekend Barry Sweeney said: ‘I had nightmares over it, I could see all the skulls.’
An account for donations towards the memorial has been set up by the Children’s Home Graveyard Committee, A/C number 12747355, sort code 90 39 71, quoting reference No: 497047.
john.lee@mailonsunday.ie