Government to seek release of Bessborough records
Minister for Children Norma Foley has secured Cabinet approval to make an application to the High Court to search for and publish technical documents relating to burials at the former Mother and Baby institution at Bessborough.
The records that could be released include high quality aerial photographs taken by the Air Corps in the 1951, site surveys, and mapping of possibly unrecorded burial sites carried out by forensic archaeologists for the Commission of Investigation on Mother and Baby Homes.
Under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, the archive of the Commission of Investigation on Mother and Baby Homes is subject to a general principle of confidentiality, meaning no evidence from the Commission can be published unless there is a direction from the High Court.
The Commission confirmed the deaths of 923 women and children in the home between 1922 and 1998.
However, the application does not include a request to release witness testimony, and focuses strictly on technical documents.
Minister Foley said: “Witness evidence falls outside of the scope of materials which are proposed to be searched for under this proposal, as evidence was given in private session by witnesses at the Commission on their understanding that their confidentiality and privacy would be respected and upheld at all times.”
Decision welcomed
Campaigners in Cork have been calling for the state to purchase the site and convert it into a public park and memorial to the victims of the home, after a full exhuming of the burial ground is complete.
In September, Cork City Council passed a motion from Labour Cllr Peter Horgan which called on the Government to released the unpublished technical archaeological reports concerning the burials, unseal all burial records, and direct the Attorney General to open an inquest.
Cllr Horgan said that the move was very welcome, and he hoped that the High Court takes into account the emotional toll which has fallen on survivors and their families.
"We need to make sure that families are at the centre of any move ahead on Bessborough, and releasing the burial records is an appropriate thing to do because it would give some sort of certainty to people about what happened where or what didn't happen where on the lands of Bessborough.
"There's a whole host of issues that need to be examined at Bessborough, and there won't be one final solution where it's wrapped up in a bow. It will take a lot of years and specialised investigations there, but today is very welcome," he said.
Permission for apartments on the site of the former home was granted by An Coimisiún Pleanála in July earlier this year.
This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.