International experts join mass grave excavation at mother and baby home
The full-scale excavation of the site will 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.
A memorial left at the site of the former Mother and Baby institution in Tuam, Co Galway, at the start of pre-excavation works (Andrew Downes/ODAIT/PA)
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, Irish premier 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.
The work at the burial site, which is being undertaken by the ODAIT, will involve exhumation, analysis, identification if possible, and re-interment of the remains at the site.
A 2.4-metre-high hoarding has been installed around the perimeter.
Workers have arrived on site to prepare ahead of excavation works (Andrew Downes/ODAIT/PA)
The site is subject to security monitoring on a 24-hour basis to ensure the forensic integrity of the site during the excavation.
The excavation is expected to begin next week and is anticipated to last two years.
Speaking as part of a media briefing at the site on Monday, ODAIT leader Daniel McSweeney said: 'We have reached an important new stage of this unique and incredibly complex excavation. It's three weeks since we took control of the site and significant progress has been made since then.
'We have recruited essential expert staff to the team, preparation work at the site is ongoing to safeguard the integrity of the site and the sensitive nature of the work.'
A worker at the site of the former Mother and Baby institution in Tuam, Co Galway, at the start of pre-excavation works (Andrew Downes/ODAIT/PA)
The ODAIT will host a 'Family and Survivors Day' on Tuesday, which Mr McSweeney described as 'the most important event of the week'.
This event, which is closed to the media, will encompass a visit to the site and a meeting to 'keep them informed about the work that has taken place so far and about what will be taking place next'.
He added: 'We continue to work closely with the residents living close to the site to ensure minimum disruption is caused to them by the works.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
4 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Irish republican march to take place in Glasgow next month
Hundreds are expected to take part in the march in the East End and Southside, organised by Cairde Na hEireann. Around 200 people, including bands, are estimated to be at the march on Saturday, August 2 with many more following along. READ NEXT:Scottish Greens reveal candidate list rankings for Holyrood elections The parade will leave Barrowlands Park, east of Glasgow Cross and head along Gallowgate onto Moir Street, London Road, Trongate, down Saltmarket to cross the River Clyde and onto Laurieston Road, along Cathcart Road and Queens Drive to end at Queens Park Rec. It is due to set off from Barrowlands Park at 1.30pm. Cairde Na hEireann (Friends of Ireland) organises several marches in the city each year. The group describes itself as an 'Irish Republican group organising within the Irish community in Scotland in support of Sinn Féin.' It holds parades to commemorate the Easter Rising in Ireland and also the 1981 IRA and INLA prison hunger strikes. Saturday, August 2, will be busy for parades in the Southside and East End. Earlier in the day, at 11.30, The ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) is parading from Barrowlands Park. It estimates 150 people will take part in the procession through the city centre to the West End. They will walk along Moir Street, London Road, Trongate, Glassford Street, Ingram Street, South Fredrick Street, George Square (south), St Vincent Place, St Vincent Street, West Nile Street, Bath Street, Berkeley Street, Claremont Street, Sauchiehall Street, Clifton Street and into Kelvingrove Park at La Belle Place. READ NEXT: All the latest changes to Glasgow city centre streets explained Further east, around 250 people are due to take part in a parade by Camlachie Loyal Star Flute Band at 1pm, leaving from Quarryknowe Street and marching on Westmuir Street, Shettleston Road, Kenmore Street, Old Shettleston Road, Chester Street, Shettleston Road, Westmuir Street and back to Quarryknowe Street. In the Southside, Govanhill Baths Community Trust will hold a parade at 1pm, from Queen's Park at the Victoria Road gates, down Victoria Road and then on Allison Street, Cathcart Road, Calder Street, South Annandale Street, Govanhill Street, Inglefield Street and ending at Govanhill Park. Also on the same day in the city, the [[West End]] Somme Association will have a parade from Haugh Road, Argyle Street, Dumbarton Road, Smith Street to Northinch Street
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Daily Record
Diamond Cleland couple celebrate 60 years of wedding bliss
John and Margaret Canning marked their diamond wedding in style with a presentation from North Lanarkshire Provost Kenneth Duffy and Depute Lord Lieutenant Terry Currie. A loving Cleland couple will celebrate 60 years of wedding bliss surrounded by family and friends. John and Margaret Canning marked their diamond wedding in style with a presentation from North Lanarkshire Provost Kenneth Duffy and Depute Lord Lieutenant Terry Currie. The Provost presented them with a flowers, cards and gift from the councillors and people of North Lanarkshire while Mr Currie presented them with a certificate on behalf of Lanarkshire Lord Lieutenant Lady Susan Haughey. The couple's daughter Lorraine Ingram said: 'They had a fantastic day. We took them out for lunch and they were really pleased to get a visit from the Provost and Mr Currie. 'My dad knows Terry so they had a really good chat. 'We are going to have a party later this month at St Mary's Church in Cleland and I know they are really looking forward to it.' John and Margaret met at Newarthill Miners Welfare back in 1960 when John was 16 and Margaret was 15. The couple were married at St Mary's Church in Cleland on July 10, 1965. John began his working life as a joiner before moving into the licencing trade. The couple had three daughters Lorraine, Suzanne and Kay as well as five grandchildren. Lorraine added: 'I think they are just so well suited. They always told us the key to a happy marriage is to share everything. 'Mum likes to keep the house in order. She's a great home-maker. She loves her crafts and a great seamstress. 'She used to make all of our Irish dancing costumes.' In July 1965, the news was dominated by the Vietnam War with US President Lyndon Johnson announcing his decision to send an additional 50,000 American troops to South Vietnam, increasing the number of personnel there by two-thirds and to bring the commitment to 125,000. In the UK, Ronnie Biggs escaped from the maximum security Wandsworth Prison in London, where he was serving a 30-year prison sentence for the Great Train Robbery while Ted Heath was elected the new leader of the Conservative Party. The Hollies topped the pop charts with I'm Alive while Elvis Presley was at number two with Crying in the Chapel. The Sound of Music soundtrack was top of the album chart while Bob Dylan upset many of his fans at the Newport Folk Festival purists by 'going electric' in a live performance.
The Independent
18-07-2025
- The Independent
Nagasaki cathedral blesses a bell that replaces one destroyed by the US atomic bomb
A Nagasaki cathedral has blessed the final piece to complete its restoration nearly 80 years after being destroyed by the second U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Japan: a reproduction of its lost bell restored by a group of Americans. The new bell was blessed and named 'St. Kateri Bell of Hope,' by Peter Michiaki Nakamura, archbishop of Nagasaki, at the Urakami Cathedral in a ceremony Thursday attended by more than 100 followers and other participants. The bell is scheduled to be hung inside the cathedral, filling the empty bell tower for the first time, on Aug. 9, the anniversary of the bombing. The U.S. bomb that was dropped Aug. 9, 1945, fell near the cathedral, killing two priests and 24 followers inside among the more than 70,000 dead in the city. Japan surrendered, ending World War II days later. The bombing of Nagasaki destroyed the cathedral building and the smaller of its two bells. The building was restored earlier, but without the smaller bell. The restoration project was led by James Nolan Jr., who was inspired after hearing about the lost bell when he met a local Catholic follower during his 2023 visit to Nagasaki. Nolan lectured about the atomic bombing in the southern city and its history about Catholic converts who went deep underground during centuries of violent persecution in Japan's feudal era, to raise funds for the bell restoration. 'I think it's beautiful and the bell itself is more beautiful than I ever imagined,' Nolan, who was at the blessing ceremony, said after he test-rang the bell. He said he hoped the bell "will be a symbol of unity and that will bear the fruits of fostering hope and peace in a world where there is division and war and hurt." A sociology professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, Nolan is the grandson of a doctor who was in the Manhattan Project — the secret effort to build the bombs — and who was on a survey team that visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly after the bombings. Nolan, based on materials his grandfather left behind, wrote a book 'Atomic Doctors,' about the moral dilemma of medical doctors who took part in the Manhattan Project.
