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The Bon Secours Sisters religious order, which ran the home for mothers and babies in Tuam, Co Galway, has offered its “profound apologies” to the women and children who were there.
In a statement issued this morning, the order said it was part of a story in which many women and children were rejected, silenced, excluded and subjected to hardship and “in which their inherent human dignity was disrespected, in life or death. “
He continued: “We were part of the system in which they suffered hardships, loneliness and terrible pain.
“We recognize in particular that the infants and children who died at the Home were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable manner. For all that, we are deeply sorry.”
The statement concluded: “Healing is not possible until what happened is acknowledged. We hope and pray that healing reaches all those affected, those who are alive and those who have died. We hope that we, our church and our country can. learn from this story. “
The final report of the Commission of Inquiry on 14 maternal and child homes and four county homes, released yesterday, found a “shocking level of infant mortality” in households.
Other houses examined include Bessborough in Cork, which was run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; St Patrick’s on Navan Road, originally known as Pelletstown, run by the Sisters of the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul (later called the Daughters of Charity); and Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Co Tipperary.
The commission was established after a Galway historian discovered the death certificates of nearly 800 babies in the Bon Secours sisters’ home run on behalf of the Galway County Council.
However, historian Catherine Corless discovered that there were no burial records.
The commission’s final report reiterates a finding from its fifth interim report in 2019 that a large number of children who died in Tuam are likely buried in and around a memorial garden at the former site of the house.
Read more:
The Commission said the Tuam children’s home was a ‘cold and loveless place’
Public outrage led to the investigation of maternal and child homes
Ms. Corless said she was surprised by the statement released by the Bon Secours sisters.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, she said it was an honest statement and, in particular, welcomed the acknowledgment that the babies in the house were not properly buried.
Ms. Corless said the apology is “a great relief” and will mean a lot to survivors because it is all they asked for.
She said she hoped other religious orders would follow suit because the admission that they were wrong must come first.
Ms Corless added that she hopes the Bon Secours order will also show her remorse in another way and help with the costs of exhuming the babies buried at Tuam and conducting DNA testing.
Meanwhile, Archbishop of Tuam Michael Neary called the report a “source of shame” and recognized “the outrageous way in which vulnerable women and children in our society were deprived of care and dignity and subjected to humiliation.”
The archbishop said that while it was operated by the Bon Secours sisters, the church could have done more.
“If the church had been more outspoken in acknowledging the responsibility of the men who fathered these children, the outcome for many young mothers and their children would have been very different,” he said.
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