Bessborough researcher urges purchase of site and inquest into deaths of women and babies
Researcher Conall Ó Fátharta is urging the Irish government to acquire the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home site to prevent further development. He advocates for a formal inquest into the deaths of nearly 900 women and infants whose remains have not been located.
Why it matters
This addresses a significant historical trauma in Ireland, balancing property rights and development against the need for memorialization and justice for victims.
The Government should use a compulsory purchase order to acquire the grounds of Bessborough Mother and Baby Home and ask the Attorney General to direct an inquest be held into the deaths of almost 900 women and babies whose graves have never been found, an academic has urged.
Conall Ó Fátharta, who has carried out extensive research into Ireland’s mother and baby homes , said it was shameful that survivors of Bessborough Mother and Baby Home had to take to the streets to try to stop development on the grounds of the site in Blackrock in Cork .
“We know 19 mothers and 859 infants associated with Bessborough died and remain missing. We still don’t know where they are buried. The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation concluded: ‘It is highly likely burials did take place in the grounds of Bessborough.’
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