Almost a year into the Tuam excavation and those digging are yet to find evidence of either foul play or babies being dumped in septic tanks.
The find of 22 more bodies announced today reveals all as being in coffins and not hurled into a septic tank.
A worldwide hysteria erupted over allegations about the home a decade and a half ago, with claims that nuns were murdering kids en masse and throwing them into septic tanks.
The claims stemmed initially from the missing records belonging to 800 children.
You can read the death certs of each one here, compiled by historian Eugene Jordan, showing that none of the children were murdered. READ
In 2021, controversial politician Leo Varadkar claimed before the excavation had taken place that there were babies buried in the tank, saying on Prime Time:
We want to put in place legislation to excavate Tuam and to give the babies buried in that tank the death and dignity that they didn’t have in life and allow them to be identified and memorialised.
Records show that the nuns repeatedly begged civil authorities for money for coffins that did not arrive, leading to them asking the public to donate and leading to the nuns themselves paying out of their own pockets.
In 2014, Catherine Corless, the woman at the centre of the story, told The Irish Times
“I never used that word ‘dumped’,” she says again, with distress. “I just wanted those children to be remembered and for their names to go up on a plaque. That was why I did this project, and now it has taken [on] a life of its own.”
Read more about that article HERE
In 2023, a comprehensive Commission into Mother and Baby Homes revealed a broader picture of the circumstances. Read more about it.
