Seven hundred and ninety-six children died in a Baby Home in a span of 36 years. However, there were no burial records. Also, there was not a single tombstone. Hence, their burial places remain unknown and are the subject of mystery.

Irish historian Catherine Corless (née Farrell; born 1954) recalled a past incident while searching for answers. Once, two children went to the garden of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway (in the Republic of Ireland) to pick apples and found some pieces of human bones! However, the concerned authorities did not investigate the case. In fact, the incident was virtually covered up.

Corless, herself, began investigating the case 39 years ago. With the help of local maps and other relevant documents, she discovered sewage chambers in the garden, where the two children had recovered the bones. Corless suspected that the children at Home were buried in the sewage chambers. Her revelation triggered a sensation. An investigation began and it turned out that Corless was right! Later, a group of Catholic nuns admitted that the children were buried in sewage chambers. The first phase of the investigation was completed on July 14, 2025.

The Irish authorities have begun excavating the garden of the old Home in search of the remains of those children. An 18-member team of archaeologists from Ireland, Britain, Australia, Colombia, Spain and the US started conducting the excavation on July 14, 2025. Corless said: “I’m very, very relieved to know it’s happening at last. It was a very long haul. It’s a bit overwhelming. I’ve been waiting so long for it. It’s a joy for me and for the families that are waiting in hope that they will find their own little relative.”

Corless, who works in a leather factory apart from conducting research on local history, claimed that 796 children died at the Home between 1925 and 1961. A Catholic organisation, named Bon Secours Sisters, used to run the Home primarily for unmarried mothers and their children. Later, the mothers were driven out of the home, leaving their children there. The Home closed in 1961 and the building lay mostly disused until its demolition in 1972. A new housing estate was built on the site a couple of years later. In 1975, two boys, aged 10 and 12, were playing at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home. They found a chamber “filled to the brim” with children’s skeletons underneath a concrete slab. Corless stressed that the incident prompted her to find the truth.

Even after an initial investigation confirmed the existence of a mass grave, the excavation work was repeatedly postponed for various reasons. Ireland came out with a law related to infanticide in 2023. Thereafter, the excavation process began.

Daniel MacSweeney, the former International Committee of the Red Cross Envoy who is leading the excavation works to recover all the remains, has stated that it is a challenging task. “This is a recovery to a forensic standard, so it’s like a Police investigation scene. Our team includes people with expertise in crime scene management. The legislation requires us to call the coroner or the Gardaí (Police) if we find evidence of unnatural death,” he stated. Meanwhile, MacSweeney thanked some relatives of the dead children for providing DNA samples, stressing: “If the DNA matches, the remains will be handed over to the respective families so that the children could be buried according to the rules.“

For her part, Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone said: “Today is about remembering and respecting the dignity of the children who lived their short lives in this Home. We will honour their memory and make sure that we take the right actions now to treat their remains appropriately.”

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Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das