Judicial review filed for Bessborough housing development
A judicial review has been sought into planning permission granted for a residential development on the site of the former Bessborough Mother and Baby Home.
The request for a review was filed by the Save Bessboro campaign, which is made up survivors of the home and their relatives, relatives of those who died in the home, and local campaigners.
A judicial review can be requested of the High Court to have it review the decision-making process of a lower body, such as An Coimisiún Pleanála, and decide whether or not it was carried out correctly.
The case is expected to appear before the High Court on 21 September.
In a statement, the group said: “The Save Bessboro campaign has been successful in that it brought the Taoiseach to the decision to ask Cork City Council to start talks with the present owners of Bessborough.
“However if we can get the planning reviewed with a different outcome this gets recognition for those that died, were separated and affected by the trauma of being in the institution.
“The truth matters and we must all fight together to achieve this,” they said.
Demonstrations against the decision to build apartments on the site of the former home have been ongoing since permission was granted in September 2024.
In July, a demonstration on Grand Parade drew over 1,000 people to demand that the state issue a compulsory purchase order (CPO) for the site.
On 17 July, an Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that he was encouraging Cork City Council to engage with the developer – Estuary View Enterprises – to explore all options for the site.
Campaigners are calling for the site to be fully excavated and for remains to be exhumed, and for it to be turned into a public park with a memorial to those who died in the home.
A report on the home released in 2021 confirmed the deaths of 923 women and children in the home between 1922 and 1998.
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.