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Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Timeline: Grim history of Ireland's mother and baby homes
Exhumation of a mass grave has begun in Tuam, Ireland, at the site of a former mother and baby home — one of several that once operated across the country. The burial site, which could hold the remains of nearly 800 infants and young children, has forced the country and the Catholic Church to contend with its decades-long legacy of shunning unmarried mothers and separating them from their children left at the mercy of a cruel system. Extensive maltreatment that contributed to the deaths of thousands of children has been gradually revealed over time. Here is a timeline of developments related to Ireland's network of mother and baby homes. 1800s 1846 — The Tuam workhouse opens on six acres to house 800 'inmates' who were destitute. 1900s 1921 — County Galway opens a mother and baby home in a former workhouse in Glenamaddy that is run by Bon Secours Sisters, a Catholic religious order. 1922-23 — The home is occupied by British troops during the Irish Civil War. Six members of an Irish Republican Army faction that opposed the treaty ending the war were executed there in 1923. 1925 — The Children's Home in Glenamaddy closes and reopens in the converted Tuam workhouse as a home for. 1961 — The Tuam home closes. 1970s — Two boys discover bones in an underground chamber on the grounds of the derelict home. Locals believe the grave includes victims of the Irish famine and create a memorial garden. 2000s 2012 — Local historian Catherine Corless publishes an article in the Journal of the Old Tuam Society that reveals many children died in the home. She later finds records of 796 deaths with no burial records. She reveals that the bones found in the 1970s were in the location of a defunct septic tank. May 2014 — The Irish Mail publishes a story about nearly 800 unaccounted dead babies at the home and the possibility some are buried in the sewage tank. International news coverage leads to a public outcry. June 2014 — The Irish government announces it will investigate mother and baby homes across Ireland, including Tuam. February 2015 — The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes is formally established. March 2017 — A test excavation by the commission confirms 'significant quantities' of human remains of infants in underground chambers at the Tuam site. Tests show they ranged from 35 weeks to three years old. 2018 — The Irish government pledges to carry out a full forensic excavation and enact legislation to allow for the recovery and potential identification of remains. October 2018 — Government officially approves a full forensic excavation of the Tuam site. The cost is estimated at 6—13 million ($7-15 million) euros. January 2021 — The Commission's final report finds that about 9,000 children died in 18 institutions, including Tuam, from 1922 to 1998. Prime Minister Micheál Martin issues a state apology. 2022 — Ireland passes the Institutional Burials Act, giving legal authority to excavate, recover, and identify remains from sites such as Tuam. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. 2023 — The Director of Authorised Intervention is established to oversee the Tuam excavation. June 11, 2025 — The site is secured, and pre-excavation work begins. July 14, 2025 — The excavation team begins its dig to recover remains. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Canada News.Net
18-07-2025
- Canada News.Net
Excavations begin at child mass grave site in Ireland
Excavations begin Monday of an unmarked mass burial site at a former mother and baby home in westernIrelandsuspected of containing the remains of hundreds of infants and youngchildren. The planned two-year probe by Irish and foreign experts in Tuam comes more than a decade after an amateur historian first uncovered evidence of a mass grave there. Subsequent 2016-2017 test excavations found significant quantities of baby remains in a subterranean disused septic tank at the location, which now sits within ahousingcomplex. Catholic nuns ran a so-called "mother and baby" institution there between 1925 and 1961,housingwomen who had become pregnant outside ofmarriageand been shunned by their families. After giving birth, some children lived in the homes too but many more were given up for adoption under a system that often saw church and state work in tandem. Watch moreIrish church and state apologise for appalling treatment in mother and baby homes Oppressive and misogynistic, the institutions -- which operated nationwide, some not closing until as recently as 1998 -- represent a dark chapter in the history of once overwhelmingly Catholic and socially conservative Ireland. A six-year enquiry sparked by the initial discoveries in Tuam found 56,000 unmarried women and 57,000 children passed through 18 such homes over a 76-year period. It also concluded that 9,000 children had died in the various state- and Catholic Church-run homes nationwide. Records unearthed show as many as 796 babies and young children died at the Tuam home over the decades that it operated. Its grounds have been left largely untouched after the institution was knocked down in 1972 and housing was built there. 'A fierce battle' "These children were denied every human right in their lifetime, as were their mothers," Anna Corrigan, whose two siblings may have been buried at the Tuam site, told reporters earlier this month. "And they were denied dignity and respect in death." Ireland's Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention (ODAIT) will undertake the excavation, alongside experts from Colombia, Spain, Britain, Canada and the United States. It will involve exhumation, analysis, identification if possible, and re-interment of the remains found, its director Daniel MacSweeney told a recent press conference in Tuam. It follows local historian Catherine Corless in 2014 producing evidence that the 796 children -- from newborns to a nine-year-old -- had died at the home. State-issued death certificates she compiled show that various ailments, from tuberculosis and convulsions tomeaslesand whooping cough, were listed as the cause of death. Corless's research indicated the corpses were likely placed in the disused septic tank discovered in 1975, while prompting the state-backed enquiries that have uncovered the full scandal of the homes. The ODAIT team was finally appointed in 2023 to lead the Tuam site excavation. DNA samples have already been collected from around 30 relatives, and this process will be expanded in the coming months to gather as much genetic evidence as possible, according to MacSweeney. A 2.4-meter-high (7.9 feet) hoarding has been installed around the perimeter of the excavation area, which is also subject to 24-hour security monitoring to ensure its forensic integrity. "It's been a fierce battle. When I started this nobody wanted to listen. At last we are righting the wrongs," Corless, 71, told AFP in May. "I was just begging: 'take the babies out of this sewage system and give them the decent Christian burial that they were denied'," she said. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
National Post
10-07-2025
- National Post
Canadian couple's love note in a bottle found 13 years later on Irish shore
A romantic message in a bottle thrown from the cliffs of an island off Newfoundland nearly 13 years ago was found on a beach in Ireland this week — and the couple behind it are still in love. Article content Brad and Anita Squires had been dating for about a year when they decided to end a quiet September picnic on Bell Island in 2012 by casting a message out to sea. Article content 'Today we enjoyed dinner, this bottle of wine and each other on the edge of the island,' Anita wrote on a piece of lined paper before stuffing it into the bottle. Brad stood up and hurled it into the waters of Conception Bay. Article content Article content 'I gave it everything I had,' he said in an interview Wednesday. 'We didn't see it hit the water, it was too high up … I just assumed it smashed on the rocks.' Article content Article content In less than an hour, Martha Farrell with the Maharees Conservation Association was reading a text from Anita Squires confirming she and Brad were now married with three children. Article content 'And then I said, 'Yay, love conquers all — and the Atlantic Ocean!'' Farrell said in an interview. Article content 'It was unbelievable, because we didn't know what had become of this very romantic couple,' she added. 'Our project is about coastal resilience and climate adaptation. And we were wondering, is this love story, is this romance resilient? Would they still be together?' Article content Article content Brad and Anita Squires were in a long-distance relationship when they had their picnic on Bell Island, which is about a 20-minute drive and a short ferry ride northwest of St. John's. He was a young police officer posted in British Columbia and his future wife was training to be a nurse in Newfoundland. Article content Article content They were married in 2016, and they have two teenagers and a young child. Article content 'We were young in love and now we're older in love,' Brad Squires said Wednesday. Article content Farrell said the crowd at the Gays' house made a toast to the Newfoundland couple after reading the letter. Later, across the Atlantic, Brad and Anita Squires toasted the group in Ireland as they shared text messages with Farrell. Article content 'Anita and I both feel like we have new friends, and we're all equally amazed,' Brad Squires said. Article content He and his wife will celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary next year. The Maharees Conservation Association, co-founded by Farrell in 2016, is also celebrating its 10th anniversary next year. Article content 'I guess we have some people to visit and a trip to probably plan,' Squires said. Article content
