More than 250 attend Bessborough vigil

The annual vigil to commemorate both the survivors and those who lost their lives at the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, has heard that survivors will continue to oppose plans to build apartments on the site if plans are approved by An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP).

The vigil was held at Bessborough Folly on Sunday 28 June.

Permission to build 140 apartments on the site was granted by Cork City Council in February. An appeal lodged to An Coimisiún Pleanála is expected to have a decision by 9 July.

The vigil drew up to 250 participants, including survivors, supporters, and local politicians.

Plans for the apartments have been vigorously opposed by campaigners. Carmel Cantwell, an organiser of the vigil, said that the Bessborough site should be preserved as a “national site of conscience”.“We have spoken to witnesses who saw children buried here. The land itself holds the truth. These buildings, these fields, hold stories and secrets and the remains of our family members.

“Seeking to protect the place where so many children disappeared, where the majority are likely buried, should not be political. It is a matter of basic humanity,” she said.

Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan, who has submitted an objection to planning on the site, said that the “spectre of Bessborough looms over this parish of Blackrock, Ballinlough, Ballintemple, and Mahon”.

“We can no longer just sit idly by and allow building to happen here without taking action. And the action that has happened since that original decision has been heartwarming. It shows that actually, Cork people do care,” he said.

Dublin Social Democrats councillor Noelle Browne, who was born in Bessborough, said that those responsible - whom she identified as the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Baby - need to be held accountable. “They abused their power. They practised a particular kind of cruelty against women and children who were at their most vulnerable,” she said.