The president of the Catholic League has denounced the Tuam Baby scandal as 'fake news'.

Despite "significant quantities" of human remains discovered at the site of the former mother and baby home in Co Galway, US-based conservative Bill Donoghue claims there is "no evidence of a mass grave".

"It was a lie in 2014 and it is a lie in 2017," he wrote on Catholicleague.org. "The hoax is now back again, and an obliging media are running with the story as if it were true. Any objective and independent reporter would be able to report what I am about to say, but unfortunately there are too many lazy and incompetent reporters prepared to swallow the latest moonshine about the Catholic Church.

"If there was a Pulitzer for fake news, the competition would be fierce. Mass graves. Sexually assaulted women. Children stolen. It is all a lie."

Independent councillor for Tuam Billy Connelly told the Irish Independent he cannot understand how anyone could denounce the evidence already presented.

He said: "I can't see how he could make a statement like this. The evidence on what they found is pretty well solid. What's in that mass grave and talking to local people is unquestionable. That's the first time I have heard anyone come up with a conspiracy to this. The facts are there and it's very insulting."