COUNCILLORS locally have expressed solidarity and full support for survivors of the former Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in their campaign for the grounds to be fully exhumed with the intention of locating and identifying the remains of almost 900 children.
Social Democrats councillor Shane Hickey-O’Mara called for a minute’s silence in the Council chamber in memory of the 923 children who died in Bessborough between 1922 and 1994.
“Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork began operations in 1922, the same year as the establishment of the Irish Free State. Operations continued there until 1998. Over the 76-year span of its operations, 9,768 women, and 8,938 children appear in their records. In total, 923 babies died in Bessborough in the years it operated, but of that number, only 64 have been identified as having burial records,” Cllr Hickey-O’Mara told Council members.
Cllr Elisa O’Donovan (SD) seconded this motion, adding her praise for Ann Connolly from Corbally, a survivor of the Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home for her advocacy.
“When I met her for the first time, it was like meeting a celebrity because she’s just done great work in raising awareness of the awful and horrific circumstances that people were raised in there,” she said.
Independent councillor Ursula Gavan added her support, saying: “We’ve an awful, shameful history in this country in how we dealt with pregnant women, and this site can’t be covered in concrete without adequate consultation. If we truly are to have reconciliation, we must be mindful that over 859 children, and possibly more, could be in this site.”