Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Ruane for raising this issue and for providing such a detailed overview to the House. I apologise if there is an element of repetition in my reply with respect to what the Senator has already stated but I think it is important, for the record, to state the exact context and exactly what the Government is doing and has been doing in partnership with the Senator and so many other Members of both Houses.

The former mother and baby institution in Sean Ross Abbey, County Tipperary, which operated between 1931 and 1969, was owned and run by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. The institution came under the remit of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters. The commission’s fifth interim report, which looked at burial arrangements in the institutions, states that over 1,000 children died in Sean Ross or in the district hospital in Roscrea, to which children in the institution were sent when they became very ill. The report also notes the commission was made aware of concerns about the designated child burial ground in the grounds of the institution and, on foot of this, it had decided to undertake a geophysical study and test excavation of the site.

The commission’s final report included the Report of Forensic Archaeological Investigations at Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home Children’s Burial Ground. The report found that infant human burials were located across the children’s burial ground and that these had not been impacted by any utilities or drainage works. The report notes that coffins, or evidence of coffins, were located with the majority of remains.

As set out in its final report, the commission was satisfied that the forensic report provided clear evidence that the coffined remains of children under the age of one are buried in the designated burial ground.It noted that without complete excavation it was not possible to say conclusively that all of the children who died in Sean Ross were buried in the designated burial ground and that it did not consider that further investigation was warranted.

However, following the publication of the commission’s final report, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth engaged with a group of survivors on their concerns that an area beyond the acknowledged burial ground, which was not part of the commission’s forensic investigations at Sean Ross Abbey, may also contain graves. The group requested funding from the Minister’s Department to undertake a geophysical survey in order to establish if there is evidence of burials in the area adjacent to the burial ground. This request was approved by the Minister last year.

The group then engaged a company to undertake a geophysical survey of the area and this was carried out in late 2023. The group submitted a report of the survey to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. As there is no expertise in that Department to assess the report, the chief archaeologist in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been asked to review it. When that review has been completed, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will update the group on any findings and then sit down and see where we go from here.