IRELAND
Galway Advertiser
BY MARTINA NEE Galway Advertiser, Thu, Jun 05, 2014
Calls for an urgent inquiry into the deaths of nearly 800 children at a Tuam mother and baby home continue, and pressure mounts on the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, to take the lead into the investigation and apologise on behalf of the State.
The existence of a mass grave, containing a large number of unidentified remains, and the discovery that up to 796 children may have died at the mother and baby home run by the Bon Secours order during its period of operation from 1925 to 1961 has received national and international attention in recent weeks.
The site had previously been considered a graveyard for unbaptised babies or Famine victims. However, in 1975 two boys had been playing when they discovered partially broken concrete slabs covering a disused septic tank which was found to contain bones. It is believed that these remains were those of children disposed of without proper burial or records of their interment. Research was later undertaken by local historian and genealogist Catherine Corless through records in the possession of the Galway County Council revealing the large number of deaths at the mother and baby home. Ms Corless set up a committee and a campaign to erect a memorial has gained momentum in recent months.
Fine Gael Galway East TD and Minister of State for Training and Skills, Ciaran Cannon, has this week called for an urgent inquiry, including a Garda investigation, into the unexplained deaths. Minister Cannon raised the matter over the weekend with the Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald, and the Minister for Children, Charlie Flanagan, with a meeting due to take place by today and an official announcement to follow.
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