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Irish Times
15-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Tuam is a microcosm for Ireland's history of discarded bones
Ireland often seems surreal. But it is also, if I may be permitted to coin a word, subreal. We share the island, not just with what is above ground but what it under it. Our reality is not just experienced – it is exhumed. As Seamus Heaney put it in Bogland, it keeps 'striking/ Inwards and downwards,/ Every layer they strip/Seems camped on before'. The subsoil of the grounds of the former Bons Secours Mother and Baby home in Tuam is described as a 'yellow-grey silty gritty layer'. And it is being stripped now , down to where, between 1925 and 1961, perhaps 796 tiny human beings were stuffed in a disused sewage system. This non-resting place is, as the technical report published in 2017 has it, 'an elongated structure, comprising 20 chambers, with juvenile human remains identified in 17 of those chambers'. These chambers of horror are 'deep and narrow'. Indeed – this is a kind of reality that has been buried very deep and confined to a very narrow strip of Irish consciousness. It is weirdly apt that Tuam in its original form is Tuaim, a tumulus or burial mound. It has become a microcosm for all that has been interred with Irish history's discarded bones. In the grounds of the home, there are many layers of yellow-grey oblivion. There have been, in modern times, three distinct cycles of shameful burial and exhumation just in this small patch of Irish earth. READ MORE Family members of children believed to be buried at the former mother and baby institution in Tuam have spoken to the media ahead of the excavation of the site Before it was the Mother and Baby home, the complex was the Tuam workhouse. It opened in 1846, which meant that it was immediately overwhelmed by desperate victims of the Great Famine who died, not just of disease and hunger, but as Eavan Boland put it in her poem Quarantine, 'Of the toxins of a whole history.' They were initially buried just beside the workhouse, until the authorities objected that the 'burying ground ... is in such a state as to be injurious to the health of the occupiers of premises in ... the entire town of Tuam'. [ Tuam families can see 'light at the end of a very long tunnel' Opens in new window ] In 2012, during works on the town water scheme, 18 pits containing 48 bodies of famine victims were uncovered. It seems probable that many more bodies lie in and around the grounds. Interestingly, even in the midst of that unspeakable catastrophe, these people had at least been buried in coffins – a dignity not afforded to the children who later died in the care of the nuns. The second episode of burial and exhumation on this same patch of land occurred during and immediately after the Civil War. Between its periods as a workhouse and a Mother and Baby home, the Tuam complex had another brief life that also involved hidden burials. It was occupied during the Civil War by the Free State Army. In March 1923, six anti-Treaty prisoners were executed in the workhouse and buried in the grounds. In May, two more prisoners suffered the same fate. These bodies were exhumed and reburied in 1924. It again seems interesting that these dead men were given a memorial on the site: there is a commemorative plaque on the only preserved section of the wall of the Mother and Baby home. The famine and the Troubles at least occupied enough space in official memory for coffins and commemorations to be afforded to their victims. The children who died in the Mother and Baby home were not part of history until the extraordinary Catherine Corless made them so – thus they got neither coffins nor memorials. The operation to identify so many now-jumbled bones of infants using DNA analysis and other cutting-edge techniques will, if successful, set a new benchmark for the rescue of the unwanted dead from the contempt of silence and anonymity What makes the forensic excavation that began in Tuam yesterday even stranger is that it fuses an old Ireland with a new. It is both deeply atavistic and startlingly innovative. It is something that seems never to have happened before in human history. There have been thousands of archaeological explorations of tombs and burial chambers. There have been numerous grim excavations of bodies dumped in mass graves after massacres or battles. (Daniel MacSweeney, who is heading the Tuam operation, gained his expertise in the Lebanon and the Caucasus. Oran Finegan, its leading forensic scientist, worked on 'large-scale post conflict identification programmes' in the Balkans and Cyprus.) There are also many cases of babies and other inmates being buried in unmarked or poorly recorded graves on the grounds of institutions – at, for example, the Smyllum Park boarding home in Scotland , the Haut de la Garenne boarding home on Jersey , the Ballarat Orphanage in Australia, and the Duplessis Orphans' home in Canada . Here in Ireland, we had the hideous exhumation in 1993 of the graves of women buried at the High Park Magdalene home in Dublin – so that the nuns could sell the land for property development. But the situation of the remains in Tuam – neither a grave nor a tomb – has, according to the technical group, 'no national or international comparisons that the group is aware of'. And the operation to identify so many now-jumbled bones of infants using DNA analysis and other cutting-edge techniques will, if successful, set a new benchmark for the rescue of the unwanted dead from the contempt of silence and anonymity. This is making history in a double sense – doing something that has never been done before while simultaneously reshaping a country's understanding of its own recent past. [ Tuam mother and baby home: 80 people come forward to give DNA to identify buried children Opens in new window ] And, hopefully, of its present. The digging up of the bodies of people disappeared by the IRA has helped us to grasp the truth that the Troubles themselves cannot simply be buried. Revenants like Jean McConville return, not just to remind us of the past but to warn us of what it means when people become, even after death, disposable. While the Tuam excavation continues, we have, in the corner of our eyes, a peripheral awareness of the undead. Since they were not allowed properly to rest in peace, we cannot do so either. Since they were so contemptuously consigned to oblivion, we are obliged to remember. Since they were sacrificed to a monolithic tunnel vision, we must tunnel down to bring buried truths to light and hidden histories to consciousness.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pioneering project releases more lost Irish records spanning 700 years
Seven centuries of lost historical records covering espionage, political corruption and the lives of ordinary people in Ireland have been recovered and are being released. A pioneering project to fill gaps in Irish history is making 175,000 more records and millions more words of searchable content freely available to researchers and members of the public. The Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, a global academic collaboration led by Trinity College Dublin, deployed historians, computer scientists and other specialists to digitally recreate parts of a vast archive destroyed in Ireland's civil war. The project launched in 2022 on the centenary of the burning of the Public Record Office in Dublin in a five-day battle that began on 28 June 1922. It is now marking the 103rd anniversary of the calamity by adding freshly recovered material that takes in the Anglo-Norman conquest and the 1798 rebellion and a genealogical trove from 19th-century censuses. 'It's a very significant scale of data,' said Peter Crooks, a Trinity historian and academic director of the project. 'It's an enormous stretch of time from the 13th century up to the 19th century. The scale of what can be brought in, in terms of reconstruction, continues to amaze me.' Once the envy of scholars around the world, the six-storey Public Record Office at the Four Courts by the River Liffey contained priceless troves dating from medieval times. It was obliterated as troops of the fledgling Irish state battled former comrades hunkered in the building. It was long assumed that all was lost but the project enlisted 75 archives and libraries in Ireland, the UK and around the world to source transcripts and duplicates of documents, many of which had lain, forgotten, in storage. The latest troves to be catalogued and digitised bring the total to 350,000 records and 250m words of searchable Irish history. Patrick O'Donovan, the culture minister, said international collaboration underpinned the 'riches' that had been rediscovered. 'It offers an invaluable historical resource for people of all ages and traditions across the island of Ireland and abroad, and democratises access so that our shared history is more accessible and engaging for everyone.' The project has fused old-fashioned academic investigation, artificial intelligence and support and expertise from institutions that contain Irish records, notably the National Archives of Ireland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the UK National Archives at Kew and the Irish Manuscripts Commission. 'The circle of collaborators has widened and deepened,' said Crooks. The latest material includes 60,000 names from the lost censuses, creating a data hoard for genealogists and Irish diaspora descendants, among others, to trace family lineage, says Ciarán Wallace, a Trinity historian and co-director of the project. 'This is only a fragment of what's missing but 60,000 is a huge improvement on a blank slate.' The project's 'age of conquest' portal contains parchments in Latin and 5m words of Anglo-Norman Irish history, spanning 1170 to 1500, that have been translated into English. Uploaded state papers, spanning 1660 to 1720, comprise 10m words, including extensive intelligence reports from the Tudor era when English monarchs tightened their grip on England's first colony. A diary that ended up at the US Library of Congress is now accessible and sheds light on dodgy deals that led to the abolition of the Irish parliament in 1800 and Ireland's incorporation into the UK. 'You find out about some of those underhanded dealings,' said Joel Herman, a research fellow who works on the project. 'One member of parliament said he can't vote for it because of the corrupt methods that have been used to win votes.' Along with the new material, a search tool called the Knowledge Graph Explorer is being introduced that can identify people, places and the links between them.
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Swashbuckling and cheeky': island festival celebrates Ireland's ‘pirate queen'
The Atlantic foamed, the wind gusted and the pirate queen swung from the rigging. She was ruler again, at least in spirit, of this corner of the west of Ireland. Five centuries after Grace O'Malley defied convention, and the English, by leading a renegade fleet, her descendants and admirers gathered on Achill Island this weekend to re-enact and celebrate her feats. An all-female circus of performers and acrobats depicted her life – and famous encounter with Queen Elizabeth I – in an open-air show by the shoreline where she once sailed. 'Grace is our anti-goddess. What makes her different from the other red-headed female figures of Irish history is that she wasn't a goddess or a fairy. She was real – a powerful, real woman,' said Dea Birkett, the creative producer of the Day of Grace, which mixed circus, music and storytelling on the County Mayo island. Saturday's theatrical premiere was the latest sign that Ireland has rediscovered a figure who was once written out of history to the point of being deemed mythical. Now her trailblazing life is the subject of tours, books, plays, documentaries and DNA investigation. Born around 1530, Graínne Mhaol, or Granuaile, as she is also known, was the daughter of a Gaelic chieftain who led her seafaring clan through tumultuous conflicts with rival clans and encroaching English forces. She reputedly had a fleet of 20 ships and took a shipwrecked Spanish sailor as a lover between her two marriages. Grace's practice of intercepting and demanding tributes from vessels infuriated Ireland's would-be Tudor overlords, leading to clashes and the capture of Grace's son, who was held hostage. She sailed to London and gained an audience with Queen Elizabeth, who could have executed Grace but instead freed her son and allowed them both to return home, where Grace continued to intercept ships and died, in her 70s, in 1603. 'She's swashbuckling and she's cheeky – the brass neck, the resilience, no wonder her story gets an amazing response,' said Deborah Newbold, who performed a one-woman show, Dauntless, overlooking Achill's Dugort beach. Despite a long, taboo-busting life, Irish chronicles made no mention of Grace, who became a figure of folklore, until a historian, Anne Chambers, found references in English state records and published a biography in 1979. Now in its 11th edition, the biography has inspired artists, poets, musicians, sculptors and composers. 'Grace will never let me go,' said Chambers. 'She shines as an inspirational beacon to what women can achieve, like her, even in the most demanding and difficult environments.' Grace's story featured in a Broadway musical and in folk and punk band renditions. Interest is surging anew in the run-up to Grace's 500th birthday in 2030. The Mayo town of Newport unveiled a statue last year and has restored Rockfleet, a castle associated with the pirate queen. A luxury hotel named the Grace is to open in nearby Westport. Brands of whiskey and gin named after the clan chieftain are now on sale in about 30 countries. A stage play and TV documentary based on Chambers' book are being planned and a feature film is in development. 'There's a zeitgeist about Grace at the moment,' said Birkett. 'People used to think she didn't exist but she used to sail right past here. Her power over the English was that she knew every bit of water, every harbour.' The circus performers defied a strong breeze – and interloping sheep – to turn the pirate queen's story into an acrobatic show for several hundred people. 'Just like a ship, a circus is at the mercy of forces you can't control,' said Polina Shapkina, who played Grace. 'This is our spin on the story – it's about female power.' The show, partly sponsored by Mayo county council and performed by members of the production company Circus 250, is expected to go on tour. The audience included two coachloads of O'Malleys from around the world – members of the O'Malley Clan Association, which held its 69th annual gathering this weekend. Randall O'Malley, 58, from Los Angeles, recently gave a DNA sample to the association's Finding Grace project. It aims to identify her descendants through the Y-DNA signature – which is easier to track than the female chromosome – of Grace's immediate male forebears. 'It would be a hoot to able to tell the rest of my family that we're related,' he said. Maurice Gleeson, the genealogist leading the project, said people named O'Flaherty and Burke may also have a genetic link via Grace's two husbands. The clan's current taoiseach – an elected post – is Grace O'Malley, a Dublin schoolteacher.
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Swashbuckling and cheeky': island festival celebrates Ireland's ‘pirate queen'
The Atlantic sea foamed, the wind gusted and the pirate queen swung from the rigging. She was ruler again, at least in spirit, of this corner of west Ireland. Five centuries after Grace O'Malley defied convention, and the English, by leading a renegade fleet, her descendants and admirers gathered on Achill Island this weekend to re-enact and celebrate her feats. An all-female circus of performers and acrobats depicted her life – and famous encounter with Queen Elizabeth I – in an open-air show by the shoreline where she once sailed. 'Grace is our anti-goddess. What makes her different from the other red-headed female figures of Irish history is that she wasn't a goddess or a fairy. She was real – a powerful, real woman,' said Dea Birkett, creative producer of the Day of Grace, which mixed circus, music and storytelling on the County Mayo island. Saturday's theatrical premiere was the latest sign that Ireland has rediscovered a figure who was once written out of history to the point of being deemed mythical. Now her trailblazing life is the subject of tours, books, plays, documentaries and DNA investigation. Born around 1530, Graínne Mhaol, or Granuaile, as she is also known, was the daughter of a Gaelic chieftain who led her seafaring clan through tumultuous conflicts with rival clans and encroaching English forces. She reputedly had a fleet of 20 ships and took a shipwrecked Spanish sailor as a lover between her two marriages. Grace's practice of intercepting and demanding tributes from vessels infuriated Ireland's would-be Tudor overlords, leading to clashes and the capture of Grace's son, who was held hostage. She sailed to London and gained an audience with Queen Elizabeth, who could have executed Grace but instead freed her son and allowed them both to return home, where Grace continued to intercept ships and died, in her 70s, in 1603. 'She's swashbuckling and she's cheeky – the brass neck, the resilience, no wonder her story gets an amazing response,' said Deborah Newbold, who performed a one-woman show, Dauntless, overlooking Achill's Dugort beach. Despite a long, taboo-busting life, Irish chronicles made no mention of Grace, who became a figure of folklore, until a historian, Anne Chambers, found references in English state records and published a biography in 1979. Now in its 11th edition, the biography has inspired artists, poets, musicians, sculptors and composers. 'Grace will never let me go,' said Chambers. 'She shines as an inspirational beacon to what women can achieve, like her, even in the most demanding and difficult environments.' Grace's story featured in a Broadway musical and in folk and punk band renditions. Interest is surging anew in the run-up to Grace's 500th birthday in 2030. The Mayo town of Newport unveiled a statue last year and has restored Rockfleet, a castle associated with the pirate queen. A luxury hotel named the Grace is to open in nearby Westport. Brands of whiskey and gin named after the clan chieftain are now on sale in about 30 countries. A stage play and TV documentary based on Chambers' book are being planned and a feature film is in development. 'There's a zeitgeist about Grace at the moment,' said Birkett. 'People used to think she didn't exist but she used to sail right past here. Her power over the English was that she knew every bit of water, every harbour.' The circus performers defied a strong breeze – and interloping sheep – to turn the pirate queen's story into an acrobatic show for several hundred people. 'Just like a ship, a circus is at the mercy of forces you can't control,' said Polina Shapkina, 31, who played Grace. 'This is our spin on the story – it's about female power.' The show, partly sponsored by Mayo county council and performed by members of the production company Circus 250, is expected to go on tour. The audience included two coach-loads of O'Malleys from around the world – members of the O'Malley Clan Association, which held its 69th annual gathering this weekend. Randall O'Malley, 58, from Los Angeles, recently gave a DNA sample to the association's Finding Grace project. It aims to identify her descendants through the Y-DNA signature – which is easier to track than the female chromosome – of Grace's immediate male forebears. 'It would be a hoot to able to tell the rest of my family that we're related,' he said. Maurice Gleeson, the genealogist leading the project, said people named O'Flaherty and Burke may also have a genetic link via Grace's two husbands. The clan's current taoiseach – an elected post – is Grace O'Malley, a Dublin schoolteacher.
