IRELAND
Irish Sun
Our columnist Rebecca also gives her guide to the IFTAs and those who took to the streets on International Women’s Day to protest the 8th Amendment
By Rebecca Barker
11th March 2017
THE empty plot belies the truth of the horrors it hides.
Situated quietly in humdrum suburbia, the former site of the Bon Secours Sisters home for unmarried mothers was officially exposed as a mass grave for babies this week.
A single plaque on the wall outside reveals the heartbreak of the local community in Tuam, horrified at the tragedies that once unfolded in their midst.
This week, the results of the excavation dig at the Galway site were finally made available by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation — and it revealed that up to 800 babies were buried there from 1925 to 1961.
The dig report makes for uncomfortable reading. It reveals “significant quantities of human remains aged from 35 foetal weeks to three years” were discovered in what appeared to be a septic tank at the State-funded, Church-run home. Although the institution was demolished in the 1970s, it was only the tireless work of locals such as historian Catherine Corless who brought the mass grave to the attention of the world.
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