A second baby graveyard has been discovered at a home in Ireland for unwed mothers that was run by Catholic nuns, and the remains of almost 800 babies could be buried there.
Investigators at a former mother-and-baby home - a term for controversial maternity homes in Ireland - found ‘consistent evidence’ of a second grave site at the home in Tuam.
The mother-and-baby homes of Ireland held shocking secrets
This latest exacavation was started this summer by an independent body, the Office of the Director of Authorized Intervention in Tuam (ODAIT).
What they found was truly shocking, although in a statement they confirmed: “There were no surface or ground level indications of the possibility of a burial ground at this location prior to excavation.”
The new area of investigation is less than 105 yards from a septic tank when the bodies of 769 infants were believed to have been dumped, according to ODAIT director Daniel MacSweeney.
So far, since investigations began, 11 bodies of infants have been found at the site in County Galway.
The remains, which were discovered in coffins, have been sent for forensic tests, and 160 people have come forward to offer DNA samples that could help identify the babies, MacSweeney said.
The group are asking for more potential relatives to come forward and submit their own DNA.
The Home’ - as it was known - has a gruesome past
Bon Secours, known locally as simply ‘The Home’ was one of a number of similar homes for pregnant teenagers and unmarried women, who were sent to give birth in secret during the 20th century as a result of Ireland’s religious conservatism at the time.
The women and girls were separated from their babies after birth and the children were then raised by the nuns until they could then be adopted without the knowledge of their mothers.
Many were sent outside of Ireland, with some ending up in Australia, Canada, and the USA.
However, hundreds died.
In total, it is estimated that around 800 children died at the home in Tuam between 1925 and its closure in 1961.
Only two of those babies were buried in a cemetery nearby.
The mothers were made to perform unpaid work in the homes for a year after the birth.
This is one of the darkest and most prominent scandals in Irish history of recent times, and in 2015 an investigation was announced by the government into 14 homes, including this one.
That inquiry found ‘significant quantities’ of human remains, as well as evidence of an ‘appalling level of infant mortality’ across the sites nationwide.
The government issued a formal apology in 2021, and the Sisters of Bon Secours, the order of nuns that ran the homes, followed with their own apology.
The forensic work is expected to take another two years, with more revelations such as this one possible.