Infant Remains Unearthed at Former Irish Institution
Excavation teams have made a grim discovery at the site of a former mother and baby institution in Ireland, unearthing the remains of seven infants. The find was made at the location of St Mary's Home in Tuam, County Galway, a place once described as a 'house of horrors'.
The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention confirmed the bodies were found in an area adjacent to underground vaulted structures. This adds another tragic chapter to the site's dark history, which came to international attention in 2014.
A Painful History Revisited
Local historian Catherine Corless, who first uncovered that hundreds of human remains were buried in a former sewage tank at the site, shared her anguish with Sky News. "I never, ever understand how they could do that to little babies, little toddlers," she said. "Beautiful little vulnerable children."
The agency overseeing the excavation has confirmed that a full analysis will be carried out to estimate the infants' age at death. This process is expected to take up to three months.
St Mary's Home was operated by the Bon Secour sisters from 1925 to 1961. Prior to this, the site served as a workhouse for 80 years and a military barracks for seven years. It is currently unclear from which era the newly discovered remains originate, though two other sets of remains are believed to date from the workhouse era.
Personal Stories of Trauma
In a tearful statement to Sky News, Annette McKay, the sister of a baby thought to be buried at the site, recounted her family's painful experience. She revealed her mother was raped at age 17 and gave birth at Tuam. McKay recalled the gut-wrenching moment Irish nuns informed her mother of her child's death.
"[Mum] was pegging washing out and a nun came up behind her and said 'the child of your sin is dead – now go'," McKay said. "What hurt me more than anything is she was 18."
McKay expressed that even if only a "thimbleful" of her sister's remains are found, she wants to place them next to their now deceased mother so they can finally be together.
PJ Haverty, who lived at the Tuam home for six years after his birth, told the BBC that Tuam was not a 'home' due to an absence of love and care. "We were just locked up in there," he added. "I call it a prison."
Ongoing Excavation and Historical Context
The mass excavation of remains at the site began in July and is expected to continue until 2027. In addition to human bodies, excavators have found several animal bones, thought to be from the kitchens of both the mother and baby institution and the workhouse.
Like many mother and baby homes of the era, women were separated from their offspring after birth, with the children often put up for adoption. Practices at the home came under intense scrutiny in 2014 when it was revealed that the remains of as many as 796 infants were unaccounted for, with no burial records matching their death certificates.
