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RTÉ News
a day ago
- General
- RTÉ News
'I have to have hope,' says Tuam relative as excavation works begin
The daughter of a woman whose child died in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home has described as "absolutely momentous" the beginning of excavation work at the site in Co Galway. Annette McKay's mother Maggie O'Connor was sent to an industrial school when her mother died in 1936. While there, Ms O'Connor became pregnant after she was raped by a caretaker when she was 17. She was then moved to Tuam Mother and Baby Home. Ms O'Connor was separated from her child after the birth and was moved to St Anne's in Loughrea. It was there where she was told that her baby, Mary Margaret, had died in Tuam. "Even a thimble full of Mary Margaret, to place that baby with her mum, would mean everything" Ms McKay spoke to RTÉ's News at One about her mother's experiences and the subsequent investigations and inquiries into the deaths at the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. She explained that her mother did not speak about her experiences in the home until she was 70. "It was the birth of my first grandchild that upset her very much, which was not the case for my mum loved babies and it brought out this harrowing tale about her baby; her bonnie baby, Mary Margaret," she said. "It was just unreal, how could we have lived all our lives, and she get to be 70 and we didn't know about this terrible, terrible thing that had happened to her?" Ms McKay said that it also feels "very hard and emotional". "I've had my DNA taken because I'm in the group described as old and vulnerable," she said. "Because I'm on the advisory board, I do have this bird's eye view of the discussions around DNA techniques, what's possible, what's not possible, the ages of the babies. "The way they've been lying in the water table, commingled remains; it is technically very, very difficult, but I have to have hope." "Even a thimble full of Mary Margaret, to place that baby with her mum, would mean everything," Ms McKay said. Ms McKay said that her mother had been moved from Tuam to St Anne's in Loughrea, and she had been told that it was the women who the nuns regarded as "troublesome" or "wanting to spend too much time with their babies" who were moved from Tuam. "There was no bonding with that child to be allowed," she explained. "So mum was pegging washing out in Loughrea, and the nun came behind her and just said 'the child of your sin is dead' and they threw her out the same day - that's all she ever knew about that baby." She said that her mother was traumatised by her experiences in the Mother and Baby Home. "I always tell people the nuns lived in our home because the nuns were always present - all the trauma, all the damage, all the pain, all the stories. "I can recall now, the names of the sisters who abused my mother, so for her to keep that secret for 50 years, was a tremendous stigma and shame visited on those women." "They had no idea about how deep the trauma was and how terrible the experience she's lived through" After leaving the home, Ms O'Connor moved to Belfast, where she met Ms McKay's father. "She had my older brother in Belfast, but (the father) deserted her... she wrote to her sister in Bury and her brother-in-law came to rescue Maggie and my older brother. "My father reappeared again, then there were two more children, and then he deserted her for good. "So, Bury is where she remained and always described living in our town as a sanctuary." Ms McKay said that her mother had always referred to English people as "very welcoming" and had helped her though "traumatic episodes". "They had no idea about how deep the trauma was and how terrible the experience she's lived through." In 2015, the Government set up an investigation into 14 Mother and Baby homes and four county homes, which found "significant quantities" of human remains on the Tuam site. The inquiry found an "appalling level of infant mortality" in the institutions and said that no alarm was raised by the state over them, even though it was "known to local and national authorities". The State inquiry led to a formal government apology in 2021, the announcement of a redress scheme and an apology from the Sisters of Bon Secours. Ms McKay said that her mother had not been very interested in the redress scheme and had asked her daughter to deal with the proceedings. "A solicitor came and said she would take the case on and suddenly all this paperwork appeared - the baby's death certificate, the birth certificate and this place called Tuam. "Years later, in a story in an English newspaper: 'A terrible discovery in the West of Ireland of a grave containing a septic tank containing the bodies of 796 children'. "I knew she was on that list. And she was." A team of Irish and international forensic experts have broken ground at the site of the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. The excavation will take two years and will try to identify the remains of the infants who died between 1925 and 1961, more than 11 years after Catherine Corless first drew attention to the burial site. Ms McKay described as "absolutely momentous" the beginning of the work at the site. "We were there last week, and the team gave us a chance to see what the site looks like now. It's forensically sealed and they were preparing to work. "I describe that journey as a chance to say goodbye for now."
RTÉ News
2 days ago
- General
- RTÉ News
Start of excavation work 'momentous', says Tuam relative
The daughter of a woman whose child died in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home has described as "absolutely momentous" the beginning of excavation work at the site in Co Galway. Annette McKay's mother Maggie O'Connor was sent to an industrial school when her mother died in 1936. While there, she became pregnant after she was raped by a caretaker when she was 17. She was then moved to Tuam Mother and Baby Home. Ms O'Connor was separated from her child after the birth and was moved to St Anne's in Loughrea. It was there where she was told that her baby, Mary Margaret, had died in Tuam. Ms McKay spoke to RTÉ's News at One programme about her mother's experiences and the subsequent investigations and inquiries into the deaths at the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. "Even a thimble full of Mary Margaret, to place that baby with her mum, would mean everything," Ms McKay said. She explained that her mother did not speak about her experiences in the home until she was 70. "It was the birth of my first grandchild that upset her very much, which was not the case for my mum loved babies and it brought out this harrowing tale about her baby; her bonnie baby, Mary Margaret," she said. "It was just unreal, how could we have lived all our lives, and she get to be 70 and we didn't know about this terrible, terrible thing that had happened to her?" Ms McKay said that her mother had been moved from Tuam to St Anne's in Loughrea, and she had been told that it was the women who the nuns regarded as "troublesome" or "wanting to spend too much time with their babies" who were moved from Tuam. "There was no bonding with that child to be allowed," she explained. "So mum was pegging washing out in Loughrea, and the nun came behind her and just said 'the child of your sin is dead' and they threw her out the same day - that's all she ever knew about that baby." She said that her mother was traumatised by her experiences in the Mother and Baby Home. "I always tell people the nuns lived in our home because the nuns were always present - all the trauma, all the damage, all the pain, all the stories. "I can recall now, the names of the sisters who abused my mother, so for her to keep that secret for 50 years, was a tremendous stigma and shame visited on those women." After leaving the home, Ms O'Connor moved to Belfast, where she met Ms McKay's father. "She had my older brother in Belfast, but (the father) deserted her... she wrote to her sister in Bury and her brother-in-law came to rescue Maggie and my older brother. "My father reappeared again, then there were two more children, and then he deserted her for good. "So, Bury is where she remained and always described living in our town as a sanctuary." Ms McKay said that her mother had always referred to English people as "very welcoming" and had helped her though "traumatic episodes". "They had no idea about how deep the trauma was and how terrible the experience she's lived through." In 2015, the Government set up an investigation into 14 Mother and Baby homes and four county homes, which found "significant quantities" of human remains on the Tuam site. The inquiry found an "appalling level of infant mortality" in the institutions and said that no alarm was raised by the state over them, even though it was "known to local and national authorities". The State inquiry led to a formal government apology in 2021, the announcement of a redress scheme and an apology from the Sisters of Bon Secours. Ms McKay said that her mother had not been very interested in the redress scheme and had asked her daughter to deal with the proceedings. "A solicitor came and said she would take the case on and suddenly all this paperwork appeared - the baby's death certificate, the birth certificate and this place called Tuam. "Years later, in a story in an English newspaper: 'A terrible discovery in the West of Ireland of a grave containing a septic tank containing the bodies of 796 children'. "I knew she was on that list. And she was." A team of Irish and international forensic experts have today broken ground at the site of the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. The excavation will take two years and will try to identify the remains of the infants who died between 1925 and 1961, more than 11 years after Catherine Corless first drew attention to the burial site. Ms McKay described as "absolutely momentous" the beginning of the work at the site today. "We were there last week, and the team gave us a chance to see what the site looks like now. It's forensically sealed and they were preparing to work. "I describe that journey as a chance to say goodbye for now." Ms McKay said that the day also feels "very hard and emotional". "I've had my DNA taken because I'm in the group described as old and vulnerable," she said. "Because I'm on the advisory board, I do have this bird's eye view of the discussions around DNA techniques, what's possible, what's not possible, the ages of the babies. "The way they've been lying in the water table, commingled remains; it is technically very, very difficult, but I have to have hope. "Even a thimble full of Mary Margaret, to place that baby with her mum, would mean everything."
The Sun
6 days ago
- Health
- The Sun
I exposed one of the darkest secrets in Irish history after discovering sickening fate of brothers I never knew I had
IT was not until her fifties that 'only child' Anna Corrigan discovered she actually had two older brothers she never knew – and could never know. Both boys had died as infants at St Mary's Mother and Baby Home in the west of Ireland, and became two of an estimated 796 babies secretly buried in a septic tank beneath the site. 8 8 8 The home, run by Catholic order of nuns The Bon Secours Sisters between 1925 and 1961, took in women — often the victims of rape — who got pregnant out of marriage. It is believed a child died there every TWO WEEKS. Now, ten years after the scandal first hit headlines in 2014, work to excavate the mass grave will finally begin on Monday. Speaking at the grounds of the demolished home in Tuam, which later became a housing estate, Anna, 68, read out a letter she had written to her late mother Bridget in 2017. She said: 'I was an only child, but now I'm a third child. "God only knows how that feels. I used to think I was special, unique, but that too has changed.' Hunger and neglect She also reflected on the trauma her mother would have experienced in the home, adding: 'How did you feel being away from your family, ostracised from your village and giving birth to your children alone?'. Bridget gave birth to John Desmond Dolan on February 22, 1946, weighing in at a healthy nine pounds. However, an inspection report retrieved by Anna and dated April 1947, described a 13-month-old John as 'a miserable, emaciated child with a voracious appetite and no control over his bodily functions'. Little John died two months later. The cause was given as ' measles '. Mass grave of babies' bodies is uncovered in UK town – just yards away from remains of 300 tragic infants Meanwhile, his brother William Joseph Dolan was born on May 21, 1950. No official death certificate has been found. Anna had discovered the existence of her older brothers after hearing an argument between some relatives. She began to investigate, and it was when she reported William as a missing person in 2013 that she was put in contact with local historian Catherine Corliss, who had also begun digging into the home's terrible past. Catherine uncovered how hunger and neglect were rife at the home. She previously said: 'The children were treated as commodities. "The prettier babies were set up for adoption — it was a money-making racket. The sicker ones were put away and allowed to die.' Anna and Catherine took what they had found about the babies' deaths and burials to local papers in 2014. Then they turned to journalist Alison O'Reilly to take it national. Within days, Tuam was making headlines around the world. Alison told The Sun: 'This is the darkest secret in Irish history now exposed. 'People need to know that it's black and ugly and rotten and what they did to the children that were born in those homes was an absolute disgrace. "You wouldn't do it to a dog.' The controversy led to the Irish government setting up the Mother and Baby Homes Inquiry, which confirmed significant quantities of human remains had been found in an unmarked grave in Tuam in 2017. Devastatingly, Anna's story is replicated hundreds of times over. Annette McKay, 71, now living in Manchester, grew up knowing she had an older sister called Mary Margaret who had died as an infant. But what she never knew was that nuns had dumped her in a mass unmarked grave. She told The Sun: 'It was disbelief at first. "We imagined when we spoke about it that in some churchyard in the west of Ireland would be a little marked grave that said 'Mary Margaret, daughter of Maggie O'Connor'. "Then to find out that the nuns had put 796 children in a sewage tank, it was pretty mind-boggling.' Annette's mother Maggie had kept the existence of her first child a secret for decades. She only revealed the painful truth when she was 70, following the birth of a great-grandchild. Annette said: 'It rocked my world because I considered myself mum's eldest daughter.' Aged 17, Maggie had been sent to the Tuam home in the 1940s after being raped. People need to know that it's black and ugly and rotten and what they did to the children that were born in those homes was an absolute disgrace Journalist Alison O'Reilly But six months after giving birth, she was callously told by nuns 'the child of your sin is dead'. Annette discovered that the baby's death certificate had been signed off by a lady described as a cleaner at the home. For historian Catherine, the past decade has been a battle to uncover the full truth behind the horror. She told The Sun: 'I knew it was wrong, I knew it was terrible, and it just strengthened me to keep fighting to the bitter end, which I did. 'Terrible price' 'The government finally buckled because they had to because of pressure from the media, and pressure from other mother and baby home groups. 'It was just constantly keeping the story out there.' 8 8 The government made a formal apology in 2021 after a judicial commission carried out a five-year investigation into a network of mother and baby homes across the country. Irish prime minister Micheal Martin said Ireland had suffered a warped attitude to sex. He added: 'Young mothers and their sons and daughters were forced to pay a terrible price for that dysfunction. 'As a society we embraced judgmental, moral certainty, a perverse religious morality and control which was so damaging. 'What was so very striking was the absence of basic kindness.' However, for Tuam locals, the scandal had always been an open secret, with the septic tank burial area being known as the babies' graveyard. Resident Bernie Lunn, 53, told The Sun: 'We knew it was the babies' graveyard. We knew it was the babies' graveyard. When we were small, we were told by our parents when we were going out there playing, we were always told not to go over near the babies Resident Bernie Lunn 'When we were small, we were told by our parents when we were going out there playing, we were always told not to go over near the babies. 'I feel very sorry for the families, obviously. I think it's very wrong what was done.' The excavation of the site will now try to identify the remains. And for those involved, it is about returning dignity to the families of those infants denied a proper burial. Forensic archaeologist Dr Niamh McCullagh, who is in charge of the dig, said: 'This is a very specific situation where a sewage tank has been reused, repurposed to deposit children and infants who died. 'That's not acceptable under anybody's standards and there's been a growing acceptance of that and a growing understanding of that. 'For me, it's about removing them from their current location as individuals if we can and then let them be reburied properly. 'That's the minimum I expect us to achieve.' Overseeing the work is Director of Authorised Intervention Daniel MacSweeney. He told The Sun: 'The overarching element to all of this I think is dignity and the restoration of dignity in death to these children who have been buried in this manifestly inappropriate place. 'We want to make sure the families of these babies understand exactly what is happening and aren't surprised by anything that happens. "Then they can give their babies a proper and dignified burial.' 8 8 In response to the scandal, the Bon Secours Sisters previously issued an apology. It read: 'We did not live up to our Christianity when running the home. 'We failed to respect the inherent dignity of the women and children who came to the home. "We failed to offer them the compassion that they so badly needed. 'We were part of the system in which they suffered hardship, loneliness and terrible hurt. 'We acknowledge in particular that infants and children who died at the home were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way. 'For all that, we are deeply sorry.'
Washington Post
16-06-2025
- Washington Post
Works begin in Ireland to exhume remains of hundreds of babies found at unwed mothers' home
LONDON — Officials in Ireland began work Monday to excavate the site of a former church-run home for unmarried women and their babies to identify the remains of some 800 infants and young children who died there. The long-awaited excavation at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway in western Ireland, is part of a reckoning in an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country with a history of abuses in church-run institutions.
Irish Independent
20-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
Mayo woman close to completing 796 climbs of Galway hill in memory of babies in Tuam Mother and Baby Home
Anne Fahey Ronayne from Hollymount is climbing Knockma Hill in County Galway 796 times in memory of babies who died in Tuam Mother and Baby Home Today at 09:07 A Mayo woman seeking to climb Knockma Hill 796 times in memory of the babies who died in Tuam Mother and Baby Home is nearing the end of her journey. Hollymount native Anne Fahey Ronayne began climbing Knockma on January 1, 2023. Her goal is to climb the hill 796 times by August 22 – once for each baby that died in the home. This date falls exactly 100 years after the first baby, Patrick Derrane (five months old), was place in the sewage system in Tuam in 1925. Related topics Oisin McGovern
