Inquiry Calls Over Mass Baby Grave In Ireland
New investigations suggest hundreds of babies were buried together without ceremony in a former septic tank in County Galway.
Wednesday 4 June 2014 17:29, UK
The Irish government has acknowledged mounting calls to investigate a mass grave where almost 800 "illegitimate" babies and children are believed to have been buried.
The remains are near the site of a former home for unmarried mothers and their children in Tuam, County Galway.
The children were buried together, without a coffin or gravestone, and dumped in a former concrete septic tank.
Historian Catherine Corless scoured death records and discovered 796 children were put into the grave between 1925 and 1961.
The septic tank, full to the brim with bones, was discovered in 1975 by two 12-year-old boys, but locals believed the remains were from the Irish famine of the 1840s.
Ireland's Children's Minister, Charlie Flanagan, has said officials are looking at how to deal with the revelations, which he called "deeply disturbing and a shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland".
The St Mary's home in Tuam was run by Catholic nuns and housed women dealing with the "shame" of having a baby out of wedlock.
It was one of 10 homes around Ireland, which housed around 35,000 single women over several decades.
Many of the "illegitimate" children went to local schools but were segregated and often forcibly put up for adoption.
Death records for the St Mary's home list the children as dying from malnutrition, as well as diseases such as measles and tuberculosis - which were rife at the time.
Conservative Catholic teaching at the start of the 20th century denied children of unmarried parents baptism and a proper Christian burial.
The home closed in 1961 and was knocked down years ago, but locals have kept the site tended by trimming the grass, putting up a simple plaque and a figure of the Virgin Mary.
Ireland's prime minister Enda Kenny has been urged to apologise on behalf of the Irish state, and there are also calls for a police inquiry.
Galway East politician Colm Keaveney told the Irish Times the matter should be "dealt with by the highest levels in government".
"I believe that this must begin with a fulsome apology," he said.
A local fundraising committee, including the historian who made the discovery, is urging a state investigation and excavation of the site.
It also wants to put up a proper memorial, including the names and ages of all 800 children.