IRELAND
Irish Examiner
Saturday, March 04, 2017
Conall Ó Fátharta and Fiachra Ó Cionnaith
Excavations at other mother and baby homes are being demanded after the discovery of “significant quantities” of infant remains at Tuam.
The Mother and Baby Homes Commission announced its findings after the completion of a test excavation of the site which made global headlines after research by local historian Catherine Corless revealed 796 children died in the home run by the Bon Secours Sisters from 1925-1961.
Following test excavations in November/December 2016 and in January/February this year, two large structures were found. One appears to be “a large sewage containment system or septic tank” that had been decommissioned and filled with rubble and debris and covered with top soil.
The second structure is long and divided into 20 chambers. The commission has not yet determined what the purpose of this structure was but it “appears to be related to the treatment/containment of sewage and/or waste water”. It has not yet determined if it was ever used for this purpose.
In the second structure, “significant quantities of human remains” have been discovered in at least 17 of the 20 underground chambers. The dead babies’ ages range from approximately 35 foetal weeks to two to three years.
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