WE NEED TO DIG ‘BABIES GRAVES’
Order exhumed 12 nuns and buried them in Knock in 2001 Full state inquiry is now ‘inevitable’ and will be launched in days Philomena Lee backs campaign to have all such homes investigated
AN EXPERT survey of what is thought to be the burial site of 796 babies in Tuam has uncovered two areas of interest where anomalies in the soil indicate likely human activity beneath the surface.
The survey recommends further investigation and experts say if we are to find out anything more a dig would be necessary.
The Irish Mail on Sunday can also reveal that the Sisters of Bon Secours, who are at the centre of the scandal, had the remains of 12 members of the order exhumed and re-buried in a cemetery in Knock before they abandoned their base in Galway in 2001 – after selling property to the Western Health Board for a reported €4m.
Meanwhile, Government sources say that an inquiry into the scandal is inevitable and will probably be announced within the next few days.
The ground penetrating radar survey carried out by a top engineering company on behalf of the MoS revealed there are ‘two anomalies’ on the site at the centre of the Tuam babies scandal.
The specialised radar showed two areas at the site which are likely to be man-made or unnatural structures; one a box-like structure and another a wide area of up to 48 square metres which has been covered over and which contains items of denser material than the surrounding soil.
Anomalies indicate human activity
The issue of possible mass graves at mother and baby homes across the country has made global headlines since details of 796 babies who died at the Tuam home but for whom no burial records could be found was revealed in the MoS two weeks ago.
The treatment of these babies is in stark contrast to that of the deceased members of the Bon Secours order buried near this site. When the order moved away from Co. Galway, the nuns’ remains were moved to a well-tended and attractive plot in Knock, Co. Mayo. By contrast, the Tuam babies were left with no memorial.
The MoS has learned the nuns’ remains were removed over a two-day period in the summer of 2001 after the site was sold to the Western Health Board for a reported €4m.
They had been interred in a 20 square foot plot at the back of The Grove Hospital in Tuam, about a kilometre from the site of the septic tank where locals discovered children’s skulls in 1975.
The exhumation of the nuns was monitored by Galway County Council. Their bodies were loaded onto the back of a lorry and driven to the Co. Mayo cemetery where they were buried with a blessing from a local parish priest. A memorial cross bearing all their names marks their final resting place.
Meanwhile, there is a significant dearth of knowledge as to the final resting place of the 796 babies who died in the care of the Bon Secours Sisters at the St Mary’s Mother and Baby home in Tuam.
Local historian Catherine Corless carried out extensive research on the children who died at the home between 1925 and 1961 – when it was closed.
Her work with the help of the Galway Births and Deaths Registry showed 796 children died during that time – but no burial records were available.
Ms Corless welcomed the results of the radar survey last night, saying she was thrilled the site was being properly investigated.
Kevin Bright, director of TST Engineering Ltd which carried out the survey, recommends that further investigations be carried out.
‘There are two anomalies on the site. Both are not natural and are not normal. Something happened there in the ground, there is no natural curvature in these areas,’ he said.
‘The first anomaly is on the left of the site, a box-like structure, which measures five metres by five metres underground.
‘To the right of the site, at the wall, there is a larger anomaly, which is an area of ground which measures 12 metres in length and three to four metres wide.
‘The results would indicate that this is not natural. It could be that something was put in the ground and covered up.
‘Our results show that these are not areas of stones and we would recommend, given the emotional feelings of the people in Tuam and the situation and history, that a trench-slit be carried out by another company in that area.
‘A trench slit is a lot more sensitive and goes around four to five feet deep into the ground without upsetting the land. Bones could be spread out there… but they would need to be all together to determine straight away that it was bones.
‘You could do four or five slit trenches along them at 50cm. This is our recommendation for the next step, absolutely.
‘The second anomaly area is almost 36 metres squared. We are not able tell you where the bottom of the anomaly area is from a surface scan, it could go very deep down. I have only the measurements of the top of the anomaly.
‘We can’t say what’s underneath and that would be normal for a test like this.’
The test was done with the full cooperation of the Children’s Home Graveyard Committee in Tuam and historian Catherine Corless.
She said last night: ‘I still believe they are in that ground. I’m delighted the Mail on Sunday carried out the tests because no one else has done it and I want to know the truth. That’s all that matters because the children deserve it.
‘Ultimately, it doesn’t matter where the babies are, the fact is they are dead and missing. If they are not all in this site as has been suggested, the question is where have they been buried?’
Last night, Fianna Fáil Galway East TD Colm Keaveney said he was shocked to hear the details about the nuns being reburied.
‘It is critically important the nuns reflect on all the actions of the order, especially how it approached its departure from Tuam.
‘I hope that in any future remedial action agreed between the State, Galway County Council and the order, there is the same scale of respectful commemoration afforded to the children that the order afforded to its own nuns.’
A Galway County Council source
A five metre squared ‘box-like structure’
said last night: ‘The health board had bought the site and they were going to develop it.
‘There were all sorts of plans and I am not aware of anybody telling the nuns to move their colleagues.
‘My understanding is that they did it because they were no longer going to be having anything to do with the site and they felt they would be expected to leave it completely clear for whoever was going to do the development work. It was no secret.’
Meanwhile, a relative of John Desmond Dolan, who died aged 18 months in the Tuam home, made a formal request at Neilstown Garda Station in Dublin on Friday, to have his body found and exhumed for a proper burial with his family.
The family are appalled at the statements issued by An Garda Síochána this week that no investigation is under way.
‘We have the health inspection report which indicates that the children were neglected… “pot-bellied, emaciated” and with “flesh hanging from their limbs”,’ said the family.
‘How does this not warrant a criminal investigation? The statement from gardaí mentioned a famine grave, that’s the wrong grave,’ said the family.