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Activists have expressed outrage at plans to build 246 apartments on land they believe overlaps a children’s cemetery linked to a former home for mothers and babies.
The Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance, representing more than 50 families of children who died at the former Bessborough Mother and Baby Institution in Cork City, asked the developers, MWB Two Ltd, to withdraw their applications for a site. close to the previous one. Bessborough Mother and Baby Home until the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Inquiry is released.
“We have treated this developer with respect by agreeing to provide them with a copy of our presentation to the commission through Cork City Council, and now, as we await the final report from the commission and the opportunity to mark the graves of the babies and women It has, ”said survivor spokesperson Catherine Coffey O’Brien.
Part of the 3.7 acre site allocated for the proposed Gateway View development includes a portion of land identified as ‘Children’s Cemetery’ on a 1949/1950 OSI map.
MWB Two plans to apply to the city council for permission for 67 apartments in an eight-story building, and apply to An Bord Pleanála separately through the fast track Strategic Housing Development (SHD) process for 179 residential units in three buildings that are They range in height from five to seven stories. This development will include a daycare center, reduced housing and facilities for the elderly.
Activists said the wait for specific details of the development comes at the same time as what is already a difficult wait for the commission’s final report to be released and said that if the SHD planning request is submitted in mid-December , the five-week public consultation period. It will run through the Christmas and New Years period.
This image is from the Cork City Development Plan, the orange circles indicate the areas marked ‘development opportunity’ on the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home site. The lower left circle is in the same location as the Children’s Cemetery. pic.twitter.com/ixBRZcooxZ
– Lost 900+ Bessborough Mother & Baby Institute (@ Lost900Bessboro) June 18, 2020
A spokesperson for MWB Two said they were well aware of “historical concerns and sensitivities” surrounding the Bessborough site.
“However, while the proposed development is on a parcel of land associated with the former Bessborough Estate, there are no recorded archaeological sites or heritage features built within the site,” he said.
“Their report concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that the proposed development site contains undocumented burials associated with the former Home for Mother and Baby.”
Last year, the commission found that some 900 children died while in the care of the nuns in Bessborough or in hospital after being removed from the home. But he said the burial sites of more than 800 of the children are unknown.
He was only able to establish the burial place of 64 children who died between 1922 and 1928 in various cemeteries around the city.
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