Human remains of a significant number of babies and infants up to three years of age have been found on the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, it has been confirmed. 
 
 This follows work by the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes which carried out planned excavations there. 
 
 Local research records 796 infants and children recorded as having died in the Tuam home run by the Bon Secours Sisters between 1925 and 1961. There is not as yet any indication of exactly how many bodies have been discovered at the site. 
 
 In a statement on Friday, the commission said it was “shocked” by the discovery of remains in an underground chamber and was continuing its investigations. 
 
 “The stratigraphic survey which was conducted in October 2015 identified a particular area of interest and identified a number of sub surface anomalies that were considered worthy of further investigation,” the commission said. 
 
 “These were further investigated by a test excavation in November/December 2016 and in January/February 2017. 
 
 “Test trenches were dug revealing two large structures. One structure appears to be a large sewage containment system or septic tank that had been decommissioned and filled with rubble and debris and then covered with top soil. The second structure is a long structure which is divided into 20 chambers.” 
 
 The commission said it had not yet determined what the purpose of this structure was but it appeared to be a sewage tank. 
 
 The commission had also not yet determined if it was ever used for this purpose. 
 
 “In this second structure, significant quantities of human remains have been discovered in at least 17 of the 20 underground chambers which were examined,” it said. 
 
 “A small number of remains were recovered for the purpose of analysis. These remains involved a number of individuals with age-at-death ranges from approximately 35 foetal weeks to two to three years. 
 
 “Radiocarbon dating of the samples recovered suggest that the remains date from the timeframe relevant to the operation of the Mother and Baby Home (the Mother and Baby Home operated from 1925 to 1961; a number of the samples are likely to date from the 1950s). Further scientific tests are being conducted.” 
 
 The commission said it was “shocked by this discovery and is continuing its investigation into who was responsible for the disposal of human remains in this way”. 
 
 “Meanwhile, the commission has asked that the relevant State authorities take responsibility for the appropriate treatment of the remains. The coroner has been informed.” 
 
 In a statement, the Bon Secours sisters said they were “fully committed to the work of the commission regarding the mother and baby home in Tuam”. 
 
 “On the closing of the home in 1961, all the records for the home were returned to Galway County Council, who are the owners and occupiers of the lands of the home. 
 
 “We can therefore make no comment on today’s announcement, other than to confirm our continued cooperation with and support for the work of the commission in seeking the truth about the home.” 
 
 ‘Very sad’ 
 
 Minister for Children Katherine Zappone said Friday’s announcement was “very sad and disturbing news”. 
 
 “It was not unexpected as there were claims about human remains on the site over the last number of years. 
 
 “Up to now we had rumours. Now we have confirmation that the remains are there, and that they date back to the time of the Mother and Baby Home, which operated in Tuam from 1925 to 1961.” 
 
 Ms Zappone said: “We must respond sensitively and respectfully to the situation.” 
 
 Her department had brought together all of the key departments and agencies to set out a way forward, she added. 
 
 The commission would continue its work under its terms of reference, including such matters as postmortem practices and procedures, reporting and burial arrangements for residents of mother and baby homes. 
 
 Galway County Council would also engage with the commission in relation to the immediate next steps on the site. 
 
 “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,” Ms Zappone said. 
 
 The commission, which was established in February 2015, is tasked with investigating allegations of abuse at 14 institutions and four county homes between 1922 and 1998. 
 
 It has cost over €3.73 million to date. 
 
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 ||||| FORMER RESIDENTS FROM the Mother and Baby Home at Tuam have described the experience of being taken away from their mothers following today’s revelation about the mass grave at the site. 
 
 Earlier today, it was announced that the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes discovered a significant number of human remains in what appears to be a decommissioned sewage chamber in Tuam. 
 
 The Commission has completed two test excavations of the Galway site and today confirmed that “significant quantities of human remains have been discovered” in a structure which appears to be “related to the treatment/containment of sewerage and/or wastewater”. 
 
 The structure where the remains were found is long and divided into 20 chambers. The Commission is not yet clear if it was ever used for sewerage or wastewater. 
 
 The excavation area has now been sealed off Source: Christina Finn/TheJournal.ie 
 
 Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline with Joe Duffy, former residents who were born in the home, and remained there during the early years of their life, and people who helped to unearth the case spoke of their experience. 
 
 Historian Catherine Corless, whose work was pivotal in making the case public in 2014, said that the septic tank had stopped being used for its intended use in the late-1930s, and said there could be remains from as many as almost 800 children in the mass grave. 
 
 “I have 798 names of children who died in the home,” she said. “We know they’re not buried with their own families – I checked that out. And now we have that answer… and as I said it was former septic tanks that belonged to the workhouse.” 
 
 She added that Bon Secours need to apologise for a statement made on their behalf by the Communications Clinic in 2014, which rejected the idea that a mass grave would be found there. 
 
 One former resident, PJ Haverty, was born there in 1951, and spent six years at the Tuam home. 
 
 “The women did all the work, while the nuns prayed,” he said. “I don’t know what God they were praying to.” 
 
 He said his mother had to leave when he was a year old, as the people who ran the home did not want a bond to develop between mother and son. 
 
 She got work in Tuam, and every time she would head off to work she would come down and knock on that door and plead with the nuns to let her see her son. They always said “no, go away”. 
 
 He was later fostered out, but found his mother again years later in Brixton, south London. 
 
 “I was one of the lucky ones – I got into a good foster home and got to meet my mother again after many, many years,” he said. 
 
 He said he had never seen any indication of what was going on, in terms of mass graves at the home, but said that he and other children had been locked up and had been exposed to so little of the outside world that he didn’t even know what Christmas was. 
 
 “We had no toys at Christmas there. There was no love, and there was no care,” he said. 
 
 I don’t call it a home. It was a prison. You look out the window and all you saw was high walls all the way round. 
 
 Other survivors, Thomas Ward, and a man called Christopher said that were born in the home and the latter did remember seeing the septic tank at the site. 
 
 Christopher described how his mother was also not let see her son, but would cycle 22 miles to and from Tuam every weekend from Galway city to try to be let in. 
 
 All callers were unanimous in their praise for Corless in raising awareness of the case which helped lead to today’s announcement. ||||| Amnesty International has called on the Government to ensure that the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes fully investigates alleged human rights abuses, following the discovery of “significant” quantities of human remains in Tuam, Co Galway. 
 
 The commission confirmed on Friday remains had been found in what appeared to be a septic tank, although it could not confirm whether the structure had ever been used for sewage. 
 
 “Today’s distressing revelations underline the need to ensure that this commission of investigation is a meaningful opportunity to finally and fully ensure truth and accountability for what happened to women and children in these institutions,” said Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland. 
 
 “Our thoughts are very much with those most affected by today’s reports, the women who were former residents of the home and their loved ones.” 
 
 Mr O’Gorman said the commission “must not repeat the mistakes of other processes, in particular the Government’s response to reports of abuse of women and children in the Magdalene laundries”. 
 
 Amnesty also noted the longstanding concerns about how children and women were reportedly treated in such institutions, including apparently high child mortality rates, alleged illegal adoption practices, vaccine trials conducted on children without consent, and denial of medical care to some women. 
 
 The commission is due to release its final report next year. 
 
 Researcher and historian Catherine Corless said Friday’s announcement had vindicated her work, which revealed death certificates for 796 children at the Bon Secours-run Tuam home with no indication of where they were buried. 
 
 “This is only the start. The truth has been revealed,” she told RTÉ’s News at One. 
 
 Ms Corless called on the commission and the State to contact the families of the survivors of the homes. 
 
 “The survivors should be contacted and consulted about the fact of their loved ones being discarded. They deserve an apology from the Bon Secours order. 
 
 “My one hope is that the truth would come out and that they will find a resting place,” Ms Corless said. 
 
 She pointed out that brothers and sisters of the babies who died had not been contacted by the commission or the State and had found it very difficult to get answers. 
 
 “They gave their accounts to the commission when invited, but they didn’t get any answers to where their loved ones were buried.” 
 
 Ms Corless said all the evidence pointed to the site at Tuam being a mass grave. “It is a total relief for me. This could have gone either way. It could have been covered up,” she said. 
 
 She alleged the local county council, gardaí and religious order knew that there were remains there but had covered over it. 
 
 “I was told to leave it, that it was something that happened years ago.” 
 
 She went on to call for further investigation of a green area and a playground which she believed covered over shallow graves. “It all needs to be investigated.” 
 
 Distressed 
 
 On Friday, 60 women who were sent to mother-and-baby homes in the State said they were distressed at the “regrettably uncertain” confirmation of what appeared to be mass graves of babies discovered at the site of the former home in Tuam. 
 
 Irish First Mothers questioned whether 2014 media reports that there were 800 bodies on the site were “substantially correct”. 
 
 “We call on the commission and Minister for Children’s Affairs Katherine Zappone to immediately quantify the scale of the remains found and end distressing uncertainty. A description of �?significant remains’ is unclear,” the group said in a statement on Friday. 
 
 The group said so-called “unmarried mothers’’ homes were in operation until the early 1990s and that its members were “very much alive and range in age from late 70s to early 40s”. 
 
 “These mothers are currently testifying in secret to the commission and the process is making them feel like they are being put on trial for giving life.” 
 
 Separately, the Justice for Magdalenes Research (JFMR) group called on members of the public to this weekend visit the graves of women who had been in Magdalene laundries. 
 
 On Sunday, March 5th, the sixth annual Flowers for Magdalenes events will take place in all cities and towns where there were Magdalene laundries. 
 
 At least 1,663 former Magdalene women are buried in cemeteries in Ireland, many of whom are in unmarked graves. ||||| Excavations at site of home for unmarried mothers and their children, where it is alleged up to 800 children died, uncover human remains 
 
 A mass grave containing the remains of babies and children has been discovered at a former Catholic care home in Ireland where it has been alleged up to 800 died, government-appointed investigators said on Friday. 
 
 Excavations at the site of the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, have uncovered an underground structure divided into 20 chambers containing “significant quantities of human remains”, the judge-led mother and baby homes commission said. 
 
 
 
 The commission said analysis of selected remains revealed ages of the deceased ranged from 35 weeks to three years old. It found that the dead had been mostly buried in the 1950s, when the facility was one of more than a dozen in Ireland offering shelter to orphans, unmarried mothers and their children. The Tuam home closed in 1961. 
 
 Tell us the truth about the children in Galway's mass graves | Emer O'Toole Read more 
 
 The home, run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a Catholic religious order of nuns, received unmarried pregnant women to give birth. The women were separated from their children, who remained elsewhere in the home, raised by nuns, until they could be adopted. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The shrine erected in memory of the up to 800 children allegedly buried at the site of the former home. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 The discovery confirms decades of suspicions that the vast majority of children who died at the home were interred on the site in unmarked graves, a common practice at such Catholic-run facilities amid high child mortality rates in early 20th-century Ireland. 
 
 
 
 The Irish government in 2014 formed the commission following the work of a local Tuam historian, Catherine Corless, who found death certificates for nearly 800 children who were residents at the facility but burial records for only two. 
 
 
 
 “Everything pointed to this area being a mass grave,” Corless previously told the Guardian. She recalled how boys playing in the field had reported seeing a pile of bones in a hidden underground chamber there in the mid-1970s. 
 
 The government’s commissioner for children, Katherine Zappone, said the findings were “sad and disturbing” and promised that the children’s families would be consulted on providing proper burials and other memorials. 
 
 “We will honour their memory and make sure that we take the right actions now to treat their remains appropriately,” Zappone said. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Catherine Corless. Photograph: Patrick Bolger/Patrick Bolger Photogrraphy 
 
 Under the Freedom of Information Act, Corless requested Galway county council’s records on the home from 1925 to 1961. She was refused. 
 
 But she was given documents from the 1970s, including an official map of the present-day estate the council built on the site. 
 
 “They obviously didn’t see the importance,” said Corless. “There is an area across the map marked ‘burial ground’,” she says. “First, the houses were built, around that area. Finally a playground was built on part of the burial ground itself.” 
 
 The mystery of the missing remains of the Tuam babies Read more 
 
 Minutes from a Tuam council meeting call for “due care and sensitivity” when building the playground because of the “children’s burial ground and adjoining burial ground”, Corless said. “The playground is unnaturally big, it’s as big as the town playground.”
– Excavations have begun at the site of a former Catholic orphanage where, it was revealed in 2014, nearly 800 babies and children allegedly died between 1925 and 1961. It was initially alleged that their bodies were dumped in a septic tank, and authorities have now found a mass grave. The underground structure has 20 chambers and contains "significant quantities of human remains," authorities say. They describe the structure as appearing "to be related to the treatment/containment of sewage and/or waste water" and say DNA analysis done on selected remains found in it revealed that they ranged in age from 35 weeks fetal gestation to three years old. A government official says the families of the children whose remains are found will be notified and their remains treated "appropriately." The Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, was run by Catholic nuns and provided shelter to unwed pregnant women, orphans, and unwed mothers and their children. It was previously reported that the children died from a variety of maladies including "malnutrition, measles, convulsions, tuberculosis, gastroenteritis, and pneumonia." The Guardian reports that the practice of burying children in unmarked graves was common at such homes at the time, a period where child mortality rates were high. Per the Irish Times, authorities say they will continue investigating who was responsible for handling the bodies; Amnesty International is pushing for a full investigation into possible human rights abuses. The Bon Secours sisters say in a statement that they are cooperating with the investigation. The Journal has testimony from former residents of the home, one of whom says it was a "prison."