Families of children who might be buried at the former mother and baby institution in Tuam, Co Galway can “see the light at the end of a very long tunnel” in advance of the site being excavated next week.
Anna Corrigan, who believes her two brothers John and William Dolan might be buried at the site, said the fact the excavation is finally happening is “bittersweet”.
Speaking at the site in Tuam on Monday, she said the children buried there “have been crying for a long time to be found”.
“They were sentient beings. They got no dignity in life and they got no dignity in death,” Ms Corrigan said.
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“This is the start of something. We may not get all the answers, we don’t know, but it’s the next stage.”
Ms Corrigan said relatives have a right to know what happened to their loved ones. If her brothers’ remains are found and identified, she may bury them with their mother, Bridget Dolan.
Will the Tuam excavation finally bring closure to families?
“If they are identified as being here, I can actually go to my mother’s grave and tool on her headstone, ‘Predeceased by her sons, John and William’ knowing that it’s the truth.”
Ms Corrigan believes Tuam is “only the tip of the iceberg” and that the burial sites at other former mother and baby institutions – such as those in Bessborough in Cork and Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Co Tipperary – should also be excavated so other families can rebury their loved ones with dignity.
A test excavation at the Tuam site in 2016 and 2017 discovered a significant amount of human remains in what appeared to be a decommissioned sewage chamber.
Dr Niamh McCullagh, senior forensic consultant at the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT), led the test excavation at the site.
The full excavation of the site is not about bringing closure to survivors and relatives as “closure implies a level of finality, that people can move on”, said Dr McCullagh.
“In my line of work, I understand that it’s not simply that people can move on – they move to a different stage of grief.”
She said “knowledge is power” and the truth can give people “some solace or some peace”.
“For me, it’s really important that the individuals themselves who are in this decommissioned sewage tank, that they themselves are no longer in this location and are provided with a more respectful and dignified burial that acknowledges them as individuals who were born in this country.
“They deserve more than what they have now.”
The excavation will take place 11 years after research by local historian Catherine Corless revealed that 796 children died at the institution, which was run by the Bon Secours religious order from 1925 to 1961. A lack of burial records indicated the children could be buried on the site.
Speaking on Monday, Ms Corless said she is “totally, utterly relieved” that the excavation will begin next Monday.
Ms Corless said, while she received a lot of support, she also experienced pushback from within the local community in Tuam.
“When people say to me, ‘What are you doing that for? Can’t you leave them there?’, I always ask them, ‘If you had a little brother and sister [buried there], would you be happy? It puts them thinking.
“It goes to show you that it’s almost like [the children] are a separate species, forgotten about, as if they didn’t matter.”
Ms Corless described the various delays which occurred during the campaign to have the site excavated as “heartbreaking”, but said it is “fantastic” that it is finally happening.
