Govt approves court application on Bessborough documents

The Minister for Children has secured Government approval to make a High Court application to search for and publish technical, factual documents relating to burials at the site of the former Mother and Baby Institution at Bessborough.

It follows widespread calls from campaigners and survivors, as well as Cork City Council, for the Government to release burial records from the institution, held within the archive of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.

The archive is subject to a general principle of confidentiality under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004.

No evidence or document given to the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes can be published by the minister or any other party, unless otherwise directed by a court.

Minister Norma Foley said she was "mindful of the importance and sensitivity of the issue of the former Mother and Baby Institution at Bessborough to so many families".

She said that to help support transparency, she had obtained Cabinet approval to make a High Court application seeking a direction to search for and publish technical, factual documents relating to burials at the site of the former Mother and Baby Institution at Bessborough.

"These technical, factual documents were used by the Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes and details of their findings were included in its final published report," she said.

The documents include high resolution Air Corps photographs of Bessborough from 1951; site survey documentation; and the commission's cartographic and landscape assessments of possible unrecorded burial sites, carried out by forensic archaeologists.

Minister Foley has pointed out that "witness evidence falls outside the scope of materials which are proposed to be searched for under the proposal, as evidence was given in private session by witnesses at the commission on their understanding that their confidentiality and privacy would be respected and upheld at all times".

Bessborough Mother and Baby Home operated from 1922 until 1999 under the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The Commission of Investigation estimated that 923 babies died at Bessborough during the 76 years it was operating.

It found that the burial location of just 64 babies could be conclusively identified and the burial records for 859 children and 19 women were missing.

The commission found that it was "highly likely" that some of those babies had been buried in unmarked graves on the grounds of the Bessborough estate.

In July, permission was granted by An Coimisiún Pleanála for the development of 106 apartments at a site on the the Bessborough estate, despite years of objections from campaigners and survivors.

The Bessborough Mother and Baby Home Support Group has been opposed to development of the lands there.

The group wanted the Government to acquire the lands at Bessborough, so that the remaining, undeveloped parts of the estate can be turned into a memorial for the 923 babies who died there.

In September, Cork City Council debated and unanimously passed a motion calling on the Government to release unpublished technical archaeological reports concerning burials at Bessborough, held by the commission.

The motion also called for the release of all burial records held within the Commission of Investigation archive.

Read more:
Cork City Council calls on Govt to release Bessborough records
Allowing building at Bessborough site 'abhorrent' - Special Advocate for Survivors