Tuam Babies: Geophysical Survey Carried out at Site

BBC News
October 9, 2015

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34491504

A geophysical survey has been carried out on the site of a former mother and baby home in County Galway.

It is believed nearly 800 children are buried in the grounds of what was once a mother and baby home run by nuns in Tuam.

A child died nearly every two weeks between the mid-1920s and 1960s.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes confirmed the survey was taking place.

It was being conducted over the surface of the ground and will be done with the consent of Galway County Council, who are the owners of the Dublin Road housing estate site.

The survey was being carried out to detect any possible sub-surface anomalies.

The Tuam home was one of 10 institutions in which about 35,000 unmarried pregnant women - so-called fallen women - are thought to have been sent.

The children of these women were denied baptism and segregated from others at school. If they died at such facilities, they were also denied a Christian burial.

County Galway death records showed that most of the children buried in the unmarked grave had died of sickness or malnutrition.