Remains

Even RTÉ. My word. Pat McGrath writes:

A further 22 sets of infant remains have been recovered from the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co Galway as excavation work continues there.

In its latest update, the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention in Tuam (ODAIT) says forensic analysis is being carried out on each of the remains.

All had been interred in coffins, in an area marked on historical maps as a "burial ground".

The latest recoveries bring to 33 the total number of sets of infant remains found at this location.

All were buried there during the period that the home operated in Tuam, between 1925 and 1961.

The area in question is close to a memorial garden, where significant quantities of bones were found during an initial probe by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, almost a decade ago.

The ODAIT said a total of 28 DNA samples have been taken from relatives of those who died in the home.

The office is working with a further 175 people who are interested in providing samples, to determine whether they meet the eligibility criteria set out in the legislation that governs the overall exhumation and identification effort.

The excavation work at the site began last July, 11 years after research by local historian Catherine Corless found there were no burial records for almost 800 infants and children who died in the Tuam home.

As well as remains from that period, a number of others from the time a workhouse operated on the site have also been found.

A further update on the excavation is due in April.

'Give them a decent burial' 

Local historian Catherine Coreless, who helped uncover the Tuam Mother and Baby Homes scandal said it was great news that further infant remains have been discovered.

Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime, Ms Corless said: "Everyone knew that they were there somewhere and we just couldn’t pinpoint it. It is great news that they are being exhumed now and there will be DNA tests."

She said a lot of family members have given their DNA already and will be hoping to match it up to bring home the remains and "give them a decent burial".

Ms Corless said the excavation was focused at the workhouse but has now moved to the area where the Mother and Baby Home infants were buried.

"We didn’t know exactly where they were, we could only guess because there was no markings and no cross, nothing in the records to say that so many babies were on the site," she said.

Ms Coreless said the 22 infant remains were found under a gravel path, which was wide enough for cars and trucks to drive into the house.

"The residents didn’t know that they were driving over little remains," she said.

Ms Coreless added: "It is even more shocking to know that the authorities knew this all along and so did the religious. It is heartbreaking.

"It is one thing to bury so many babies but why didn’t they leave a sign, mark it out as a graveyard with a bit of reverence."

She said that did not happen because at the time illegitimate babies and children "didn’t seem to matter" and were "shoved into industrial schools here, there and everywhere". She added that they were "treated as a different species at the time".

Ms Coreless said the next step will be to get into the memorial garden and to get into the sewage system where she said the remains were left on top of each other.

She said a fully detailed report is being given every few weeks by the director of the site.