IRELAND
Irish Examiner
January 12, 2021
By Aoife Moore
Thousands of children died in Ireland’s Mother and Baby Homes with no concern from the State or society, the Commission of Investigation has found.
Main points of the report:
– 56,000 women were incarcerated, 5,616 of them under 18. Some were as young as 12
– Approximately 9,000 of the 57,000 babies born in these homes died
– Ireland had the world’s highest proportion of women sent to mother & baby homes in the 20th century
– In the 1930s and 1940s, 40% of babies in the institutions died before their first birthdays
75% of the children born in Bessborough in 1943 died in their first year. In that same year, 62% of babies born in the Bethany Home died
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