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labhairt anseo inniu. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today on developments at the site of the former mother and baby institution at Bessborough. The legacy of the mother and baby institutions is a deeply sad one that continues to be a source of profound hurt and pain … many people across this country. I am very conscious of the sensitivity of this issue, particularly for survivors and former residents of the Bessborough institution, as well as for their families. Indeed, there may well be members of the public in the Gallery today who were born

outset, I thank the Minister and Government for facilitating these statements today. They are absolutely necessary. As we all know, Bessborough represents a very long dark chapter in our past. It extended from 1922 to 1998. It was a very recent chapter. It is not that long … since Bessborough closed its doors. Some of the history of what went on in Bessborough is known and some is unknown but certainly there were horrors in relation to it. Some of that is documented but much of it is not. As we have outlined here today

abuse and trauma suffered by women and children at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork city is not a matter of history. That suffering is hardwired into the present day lives of survivors and their families. It also echoes in the memory of those who never made … with real anger, disgust and hurt by survivors, their families and the public at large, not least because 829 children who died in Bessborough are unaccounted for to this day. We still do not know where they are buried or what happened to them and there has been

going to talk about Bessborough, but I will also talk about the entire system of mother and baby homes, industrial schools and county homes. We have had many apologies in this House, and rightly so; they are welcome. Too often, however, the State has failed to truly … that separation would have been created. That was one of the most callous proposals and decisions adopted by any Government in recent years. Bessborough puts it into stark relief. We can all acknowledge maternal health in the forties and fifties in Ireland was not what it should have

Today's statements on Bessborough are welcome and very important but they will be meaningless unless the Government takes action on foot of the debate today. I urge the Minister to listen to the contributions from across the House, including by Members from her own party … Minister what I said to the survivors and their supporters at that gathering. Recently I attended a vigil organised at the Bessborough site in Cork. Afterwards I took time to look at the death records from the institution: 923 children died in the care of the nuns

Last Thursday's decision granting permission for development to proceed on the site of the former Bessborough mother and baby home is indeed deeply disappointing. It has caused immense distress and concern to survivors and many other people across the country. I have been listening carefully to what … found on the grounds. That alone should be a cause of immense concern to anyone who has read anything of the history of Bessborough. Ten days ago, I visited the site myself. It is in the Taoiseach's own constituency and I know he has been there himself

welcome to the Public Gallery people who were incarcerated in Bessborough and other institutions. I particularly welcome Councillor Noelle Brown who was born in Bessborough and who has been an activist in this area for decades. Noelle has tirelessly highlighted the wrong done in this country … these children mattered not only to their families and mothers but also to this country. The news that planning permission was granted at Bessborough, the site of another mass grave, caused deep pain for survivors of that institution and sent shock waves to survivors of other institutions where

their contributions today. As the Minister, Deputy Foley, set out earlier, the investigation of burial arrangements in mother and baby institutions, including Bessborough, was an important part of the work of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, an independent, statutory body that was established … extensive investigations undertaken by the commission in an effort to locate the burials of the children who died while resident in Bessborough. The commission’s investigation into burial practices extended to many other institutions beyond Bessborough. This included the former institutions at Castlepollard and Sean Ross. These

cases where we know inappropriate burials took place inside institutions, many of which had shockingly high mortality rates. One such institution was Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork, which has been raised with me by people all over Ireland and raised by colleagues in this debate. While … Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes estimated that 923 babies died at Bessborough, just 64 burial locations could be identified. Burial records for 859 children and 19 women were missing. According to the commission, it is highly likely that some of those babies are buried

Some 18,000 women and children went through or spent time in Bessborough. It closed in 1998. This is not just a historical wrongdoing; it is a modern one right up to today. There are people who still bear the scars and the trauma. To give a feel … young little baby, who was probably laughing and able to clap and what have you. He was the first child to die in Bessborough. Zoei Bonny died on 10 August 1994. She would have been 32 this year. She was only two days

reckon with our past and respond to those who continue to live with its consequences. The focus today is on the history of Bessborough and the wider legacy of mother and baby institutions in this country. Bessborough was one of a network of institutions that operated for decades … voices were not heard. Their rights were not respected. For far too long, their experiences were hidden from public view. Children born in Bessborough, like those born in similar institutions across the State, faced their own stark realities. Many were adopted, often without full or informed consent from

been served. How can justice be served when we do not know where over 800 children and 19 women are buried at Bessborough? How can justice be served when in Sean Ross Abbey an investigation revealed that at least 1,000 babies died there? This is something that … know the extent of. How can we claim to have confronted this history when so much remains unanswered? Ministers cannot simply say that Bessborough or Sean Ross Abbey does not meet the criteria and consider the matter closed. When the Institutional Burials Act was initially brought forward

When we speak about Bessborough, we are not speaking about an abstract planning file or a routine decision before a local authority. We are speaking about a place that goes to the very core of who we are, or who we claim to be, as a republic. There … mother and baby homes is not distanced or detached. It is raw and painful, and remains unresolved for far too many families. Bessborough, in particular, stands as one of the starkest symbols of that legacy. Nearly 19,000 women and children passed through its doors. That

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cheann Comhairle. In 1940 Ireland's infant mortality rate was 6.5%. In the Bessborough mother and baby home, it was 61%. In 1943 a Department inspector, Alice Litster, said: "The greater number[s] ... were miserable scraps of humanity, wizened, some emaciated and almost … children continued to be incarcerated and abused there. Between 1922 when it opened and 1998 when it finally closed 923 children died in Bessborough but burial records exist for just 64. It seems no one even cared enough to record where they were buried. The nuns

wish to raise the issue of Bessborough. The Minister will be well aware that mediators between Cork City Council and landlords and landowners have been appointed. This was confirmed in the media on 8 September. After a month, will the Minister update us on the progress … been achieved? Has this progressed beyond initial meetings? Most importantly, has the Government earmarked funding for the purchase of the Bessborough site, and if mediation leads to an agreement, is the Minister ready to step in, provide the necessary funding and not let this drag on any longer

other institutions, for its preservation, conservation and, ultimately, to allow people who wish to do so to access it. In respect of Bessborough, it must be stated that An Coimisiún Pleanála is independent. I hope the Deputy accepts that. It is independent of the Government and the Oireachtas … felt they could intervene in various issues on an ongoing basis, that would become problematic for society over time. In respect of the Bessborough site and the decision, there is no evidence yet that there were any burials on the specific site on which an application has been

decision to grant planning permission for a residential development on the site of the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork is deeply wrong. It is deeply troubling and profoundly disrespectful to the women and children who lived there, who suffered there and who died there. Bessborough … place where women were confined, where children died and where families are still searching for the truth. We cannot discuss planning at Bessborough as if it is comparable to any other planning application in the State, as if it is simply another zoned map. This is about history

express my solidarity with the survivors of the Bessborough mother and baby home and of all mother and baby homes as we broach this issue. We are talking about a matter of great sensitivity relating to the disappearance of hundreds of women and babies. This is a matter … repeated. It requires truth-seeking and truth-telling, reflection and memorialisation. We know that of the 923 babies who died at Bessborough, 859 are entirely unaccounted for. The location of the remains of 19 mothers is also unknown. The commission of investigation reports it is highly likely burials

number of years ago, I met with Maureen Considine and some survivors in Bessborough. Deputy Cairns has often said we should talk to survivors. Their perspective is far different from hers in respect of Bessborough. I refer her to an article in today's Irish Examiner by Maureen … this issue. She established the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance, CSSA, in respect of this issue - in terms of the burials in Bessborough. The fundamental issue they wanted was to first of all establish where their babies were buried. Their sense was: The mothers at the heart

Carmel Cantwell's brother William died in Bessborough mother and baby home. Speaking at a vigil on Sunday she said, "The land itself holds the truth. These buildings, these fields hold stories and secrets and the remains of our family members". That truth now lies buried. If planning … babies? Leaving that aside for the moment, no one is asking the Government to go in tomorrow and excavate the entire site at Bessborough. Before that there would need to be geophysical surveys, test excavations and soil samples. The commission of investigation did not do any of that

tribute to Carmel Cantwell, Noelle Brown who I see in the Gallery, and other survivors and those affected by the crimes committed at Bessborough Mother and Baby Institution. I called it a "home" at the protest last week and I was rightly rounded upon and told it should … about what would happen to women in a partitioned Ireland where reactionary forces gained dominance in the State. It is appropriate then that Bessborough was set up in 1922 - the year of partition - as part of a policy by the new State of outsourcing the care of women

into mother and baby homes and it, as she knows, carried out a cartographic and landscape assessment of possible unrecorded burial arrangements in Bessborough. It also carried out a site survey and consulted with people on responses to its appeal seeking information about burials there. It concluded that … likely that some of the children who died at Bessborough were buried in the grounds, but it was unable to find any physical or documentary evidence of this. As no evidence of locations was found, the commission did not consider it feasible to excavate the full available site

time Bessborough mother and baby home was not just a place where children were born; it was where they died. In 1943, three out of every four babies there died. One of the leading causes of death was starvation. The mother and baby homes commission report stated that … children died in Bessborough but burial records only exist for 64. The commission concluded it was highly likely some of those children were buried on the grounds. The State either does not care or does not want to know because there has never been a proper, forensic examination

every single step of the way - and there are still fights for it - that is the same situation that is going on for Bessborough. I would like to encourage the people who are every single day campaigning to make sure that apartments are not build on Bessborough … still campaigning. I encourage those people to keep fighting. We are supporting them. We are really hoping that something can happen in Bessborough that prevents this building of apartments

remains of people buried at former institutions. That is a sensible and necessary change. However, I wish to raise the case of the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork, where the burial places of 859 children and 19 women remain unaccounted for, according to the commission … places remain unknown as a reason not to investigate? Meanwhile, planning permission has been upheld for 106 apartments on part of the former Bessborough grounds, despite the unresolved questions about where these children are buried. The then Minister for children who oversaw the commission of investigation, Katherine Zappone

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will report on his meetings with survivor groups since his intervention at the 2025 Bessborough Commemoration; her plans to meet with other survivor groups; and if she has made representations to Cork City Council in respect of the Bessborough site

Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if there is a specific archaeological report for Bessborough in the archive of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry held by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45447/26

Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will publish in full the report on burials at the Bessborough Mother & Baby Home from the Commission's forensic archaeologist in light of the fact that the forensic archaeology reports for the Tuam

Shea asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her attention has been brought to the proposed commercial development at the former Bessborough mother and baby home site in Cork; if she has engaged with the owners or Cork City Council regarding the future of the site

Shea asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if consideration has been given to the preservation, memorialisation, or public commemoration of the Bessborough site, in consultation with survivors and advocacy groups; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20866/26

Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her plans to purchase the remaining Bessborough grounds; her plans for memorialisation on the site; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15042/25

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will engage with a group (details supplied) on issues of concern regarding the Bessborough site and the flaws in the previous redress scheme. [15805/25

asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth whether she will consider a sensitive excavation of the suspected burial grounds at Bessborough; whether engagements with survivors have been conducted to seek their views; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2351/25