Excavation Begins At Catholic Orphanage Mass Grave In Ireland As Nuns Face Questions Over Children’s Deaths

Forensic experts in Ireland have begun a landmark excavation at the grounds of the former St Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland where it is believed the remains of 796 children were discarded in a disused sewage tank.

According to one CNN report, run by the Sisters of Bon Secours from 1925 to 1961, the Tuam home has become symbolic of a dark chapter in Irish history.

Pregnant unmarried women were confined in these religious institutions, run with the complicity of the state, where many were separated from their babies. While some infants were adopted or trafficked overseas, thousands died amid neglect and malnutrition.

“In this twisted, authoritarian world, sex was the biggest sin for women, not for the men,” said Annette McKay, whose mother survived the Tuam home.

A government inquiry previously confirmed “significant quantities” of human remains at Tuam and condemned the “appalling level of infant mortality.” Despite evidence, the Bon Secours order initially rejected the claim of a mass grave, hiring consultants who denied its existence.

It was the tireless work of local historian Catherine Corless that finally forced authorities to act.

Niamh McCullagh, a forensic archaeologist with the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT), an independent body supervising the project, explained that a “test excavation” at the site had uncovered 20 chambers within an old sewage tank, holding the remains of infants who were between 35 weeks gestation and three years old when they died.

Today (14 July), a team of Irish and international forensic experts will break ground at a mass grave site. The excavation, expected to last two years, aims to recover and identify remains, and investigate potential unlawful deaths.

“The awful truth about infants is that they have to live with an illness long enough for it to impact their bone… so they don’t often live long enough for some diseases to impact their bone. It’s not a pretty story, but it’s the truth,” said forensic archaeologist Niamh McCullagh.

Relatives and campaigners hope the exhumation will bring dignity to those who were denied it in life and in death.

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