Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The site at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, County Tipperary, was home to one of Ireland's most infamous mother and baby homes, operational from 1931 to 1969. During this time, 6,414 women were admitted and 6,079 children were born there. Within two years of it opening, it was acknowledged that there was a problem with infant mortality and the congregation sent a representative to investigate the cause. 1,090 infants and children born or admitted to the home are known to have died. As part of the mother and baby home commission of investigation, geophysical surveys and small-scale excavations took place at the Sean Ross Abbey site in Roscrea site. The geophysical survey took place in January 2019 and an independent inspection of the drains in proximity to the site took place in February 2019.The investigations took place on a small section of the site at Sean Ross covering around 10% of the ground surface. According to the commission's findings, the total possible number of infants and children represented in the excavation was just 42. There was significant inconsistency in record keeping across the mother and baby homes. In the case of Sean Ross specifically, registers of burials were not maintained. There is, however, a small, designated burial ground on the site, and this is where the commission established that the confined remains of some children were located. These burials, according to the commission, were organised in terms of their layout and concentration, and the fact that evidence of coffins was located with the majority of skeletal remains. Despite this fact, the commission was only able to identify the individual remains of just 42 children. Given the spatial constraints of the angels plot in Sean Ross, it is unfeasible that the remainder of the burials occurred there and because of this, we cannot say with any certainty where the remains of some 1,000 infants and children lie.

Further geophysical surveys of the Sean Ross site, which have been undertaken by survivor groups that are independent of the commission in the years since its final report was published, have identified certain anomalies that require further analysis. The most recent of these surveys was undertaken in October 2023, led by survivor group We Are Still Here. It identified anomalies at a number of different locations on the Sean Ross site. I have had a separate survey undertaken on the site, arranged by the survivor group Bring Them Home, which corroborates the findings as they relate to the identification of significant anomalies on the site. It is my understanding that the findings of the October 2023 survey were to be sent to the Department. There has been no response so far, to the best of my knowledge, to the request that the Department would also consider its own analysis in consideration of those new findings.

In submitting this Commencement matter this morning, I am asking for an update regarding the Department's analysis of these updated surveys, the extent to which the findings depart from those of the commission in 2019, and the steps the Minister intends to take as it relates to potential further investigation or excavation of the Sean Ross site. At the children's committee, there was huge scrutiny around the scope of the burials Act, and again, under scrutiny, the Civil Engagement Group flagged many concerns about its narrowness. With regard to the Act, our fear was that the provisions of the Bill were too restrictive such that further investigation would be precluded from being undertaken at the sites where manifestly inappropriate burials were suspected to have taken place outside of the Bon Secours home in Tuam.

While the nature of the burials at Tuam differs to other mother and baby homes in a specific way, this is not to say that other sites should not be investigated further. As the Minister of State will no doubt understand, the absence of clarity and realisation that closure may continue to evade survivors and families will arouse profound hurt and compound existing trauma. Could the Minister of State provide an update regarding the Department's analysis of these new surveys, how they depart from those surveys and how we can potentially move forward in investigating or excavating the site at Sean Ross Abbey?