Preparatory work begins ahead of Tuam mother and baby home mass grave excavation in Co. Galway

[IwantToRetire]

The preparatory phase, which will last around four weeks, comes ahead of the full-scale excavation of the site to try to identify the remains of infants who died at the home between 1925 and 1961.

In 2014, research led by local historian Catherine Corless indicated that 796 babies and young children were buried in a sewage system at the Co Galway institution across that time period.

The St Mary’s home for unmarried mothers and their children was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns.In 2021, Taoiseach Micheal Martin delivered an apology on behalf of the state for the treatment of women and children who were housed in mother and baby homes across Ireland.

The Bon Secours Sisters also offered a “profound apology” after acknowledging the order had “failed to protect the inherent dignity” of women and children in the Tuam home.

One of the main responsibilities will be to ensure any remains that are uncovered are re-interred in a respectful and appropriate way.

Full article https://www.itv.com/news/utv/2025-06-16/mass-grave-excavation-at-mother-and-baby-home-to-begin

I find this whole thing extraordinarily depressing. Respect to Catherine Corless! Thanks for sharing. Think it's important to keep it alive.

Thanks for that OP
More babies found in Tuam This week 🙏

Since I last posted I found out, whilst at a cousins funeral in January, that my mother had a baby at Castlepollard
Possibly two but I haven’t been able to trace one of them
Awaiting my dna results to see if I have a sister sold to an American couple.

Another revelation - mum became a novice nun at some point after. She didn't take the full vows obviously as I exist. She remained faithful to the church but never took communion. Perhaps guilt stayed with her all her life. I’ll never know.

As a pp mentioned the nuns got a job afterwards for my mum in a Convent hospital in Wales. I knew all about that part, just never questioned why she went there.
Words can’t describe how I feel about my mum being in one of these homes for at least two and a half years of her life.

Im hoping OP you don’t mind me asking the following

If anyone is interested in signing the petition to stop the Irish Government building over 923 graves at Bessborough mother and baby home
see below
Only one week left
There is no requirement in the planning permission to search for graves
Please help to give them and their families peace

I can’t seem to link
its at
change.org

Gosh, that must be very hard @DrPrunesqualer, I'm sorry that this happened to your mother and siblings (and you)

This was reviewed in the Times the other day, I'm waiting for the paperback but I shall be very interested to read it, it's called The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland's Legacy of Silence.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1847928463/

Thankyou
I’ve seen the book highly recommended on some of the mother and baby home Facebook pages
( I’ve ordered a copy. Not sure I can face the read just yet though especially in the knowledge my mum was incarcerated for over 2years )

as an update
I found one sister ( adopted out to America) through dna a few days ago and a child of one of my mums sisters ( same state in the US )
A sad but ultimately rewarding process and so happy to give them closure

I’m hoping the Irish Government can allow the families of the mothers and children buried at Bessborough the same
🙏

I haven't read this particular book, but the 'blurb' gives the impression that Magdalen Laundries were like prisons, whereas in fact if a woman or girl had somewhere else to go, she could leave.

The exact stats aren't known, but from the available records, the average length of stay was about 3 years.
Given that some women stayed there all their lives, an average of 3 years implies many much shorter stays.

It was a big 'if', but some families took girls back home, some girls were placed there as an alternative to prison [they wouldn't have a criminal record] and were released when they had done their time; some women were going through homelessness or in financial distress - there was no social security back then; some women were found domestic jobs, often abroad - I know this for a fact from a family member getting a job with a family in the US through the Laundry.

Obviously some women had nowhere else to go and a number spent all their lives there.
But the Laundries were self-financing, there was no incentive to keep any more mouths to feed than they had to.

As is the case with the Mother and Baby home, the Tuam burials, etc, just the bare truth is horrible enough.