Overview

• Work began this week with barriers installed around the former site of St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam to prepare for a thorough excavation.
• The home was run by nuns of the Sisters of Bon Secours from 1925 to 1961 and housed unmarried mothers and their infants under strict religious oversight.
• Historical research suggests up to 796 infants and toddlers were discarded into the home’s disused sewage system instead of receiving proper burials.
• A 2017 probe first uncovered human remains including fetuses and children up to three years old, leading to formal excavation approval in 2018.
• Irish government and Catholic church officials have apologized for the abuses but questions over full accountability and restorative justice for victims’ families remain unanswered.