IRELAND
Georgia Bulletin
By MICHAEL KELLY, Catholic News Service | Published June 26, 2014
DUBLIN (CNS)—The Irish government is finalizing the parameters of a judicial inquiry into church-run state-funded mother and baby homes.
The inquiry comes amid increased disquiet about some of the reporting of the original story of St. Mary’s Home in Tuam, run by the Bon Secours congregation of nuns.
In May, local historian Catherine Corless revealed her research, which found that between 1925 and 1961, 976 infants died in the home for unmarried mothers and their children. She had found no evidence that they were buried in local cemeteries and instead believed that the children may have been buried in a common grave on the site.
However, several media outlets began reporting that the children had been “dumped” in a disused septic tank on the site. Within days, the international media was gripped by the story—much of which turned out to be factually inaccurate.
Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has expressed support for a judicial inquiry.
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