'A CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATE' Over 6,000 women and children died in Ireland’s mother and baby homes according to survivor group

By Adam Higgins
Irish Sun
March 7, 2017

https://goo.gl/aOy3nP

Entrance to the site of a mass grave in Tuam, Co Galway

Workers at the site of the mass grave in Tuam

Mary Lou McDonald

Anne Ferris was herself adopted from a mother and baby home

MORE than 6,000 women and children died in Ireland’s mother and baby homes, according to a survivor group.

Last week it was revealed the bodies of 800 babies were hidden in a septic tank in Tuam at one of the horror facilities run by the Bon Secour nuns.

The Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors today called for an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach to resolve the outstanding issues facing their elderly members.

The Coalition is made up of seven different survivors groups including Adoption Rights Now, The Bethany Home Survivors, Beyond Adoption Ireland, Adopted Illegally Ireland, The Castlepollard Mother And Baby Home Group, The Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse and The Adoption Coalition Worldwide.

The group are urging the Government to include all living survivors in the Commission of Inquiry that will look at what happened in these institutions.

In a statement today, they said: “It is absolutely clear that, and CMABS would like to stress that this is a conservative estimate, at least 6,000 babies, children and mothers died in Ireland’s now globally notorious mother and baby homes.

“CMABS primary goal is the full inclusion of all living survivors in the current Commission of Inquiry.

“It is deeply unfair and hurtful to our community that so many of our fellow survivors have been omitted from the Inquiry.

“The real issue here is Ireland’s treatment of single mothers and their babies, not what happened to some of them behind the high walls of the mother and baby homes.

“There cannot be a ­hierarchy of survivors, we are all equal and we need immediate full inclusion for all survivors.”

Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald called on the Government to give gardai the resources needed to launch a full criminal investigation into the scandal.

She said: “It is now beyond question that, at the very least, the terms of ­reference for the commission need to be redrafted and that all institutions must be included.

“The response of State agencies to the discovery of this mass grave has been completely inadequate.

“The site needs to be secured immediately as a crime scene and those responsible for this atrocity need to be held criminally accountable.

“The Garda Commissioner should make a statement on the progress of the investigation including whether or not there are adequate resources allocated to it.”

Gardai stated that they are liaising with the coroner in Co Galway about the grim findings in Tuam.

Former Labour Party TD Anne Ferris, herself adopted from a mother and baby home, urged the Government to extend the terms of the Inquiry to include all institutions.

She told RTE: “If that happened in Tuam and it has been proved that it happened in Tuam then it must surely have happened in other institutions around the country.

“I think that the Government now should be looking at excavations in other homes.

“Yes there are a lot of institutions but why just take a sample amount?

“That’s not going to make a survivor of the other homes feel any better.”