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3w ago

Forensic Teams Begin Exhumation at Tuam Mass Baby Grave

The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention has mobilized international teams to recover nearly 800 infant remains for DNA identification, paving the way for dignified reburial.

Historian Catherine Corless poses for a photo at Tuam cemetery, Ireland, in Tuam, Ireland, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Catherine Corless, who discovered that nearly 800 children died at a mother and baby home in Tuam, Ireland, is seen with a replica she built of the home Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Melley)
Historian Catherine Corless visits the excavation site of St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children, in Tuam, Ireland, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)
Patrick McDonagh, who grew up in the neighborhood built atop the former mother and baby home in Tuam, Ireland, sits outside his family's home on Tuesday, July 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Melley)

Overview

  • The dig, launched July 14 under the two-year Institutional Burials Act mandate, is led by Daniel MacSweeney with support from forensic experts in Ireland, Britain and beyond.
  • Workers have unearthed infant bones within a defunct septic tank and surrounding grounds of the former Bon Secours mother and baby home.
  • ODAIT has collected DNA samples from nearly 100 relatives in the UK, US, Canada and Australia to help match remains with lost family members.
  • Recovered remains are being meticulously processed and cataloged at an on-site facility before laboratory analysis and identification.
  • This excavation marks Ireland’s formal effort to confront church-run institutional abuses following a 2021 state apology and the 2022 legal reform empowering forensic recovery.