A woman who visited the site of the Tuam
mother and baby home four decades ago has recalled seeing what appeared
like mineral bottles rolled up in cloth on top of each other when the
ground collapsed under her.
“I was a few feet away from
something I couldn’t explain. Now I would describe it as a Cidona bottle
or a Coke bottle rolled up in a cloth and they were all piled on top of
each other like sausages,” said Mary Moriarty.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Liveline
programme on Friday, she said she was later told by a woman who had
worked on the grounds that they were the “little baby graves”.
She had gone to the site in the
summer of 1975 after a child on the street “had a skull on a stick,
shaking it”. She said there was “rubble and stuff” where the home was
being demolished and the existing graveyard there was overgrown and
covered in bushes. The ground collapsed beneath her and she “landed down
in something”.
Thomas Warde,
who was born in the Tuam home in June 1942 and who remained there until
he was five years old, said he did not remember the septic tank on the
site.
Kept hidden
He had been fostered in the Loughrea area and had tracked his mother down “a long time later”. She had kept hidden from him anything that went on at the home, he said.
“When you got to six or seven you went on to Letterfrack or somewhere, you were finished in the mother and baby home.”
“We were a part of those children
that was found . . . there may be babies buried there that were never
certified at all, that never came on the record,” he said.
Mr Warde also said it was wrong that the council had allowed people to build houses on the site.
“I know four houses [where the] people driving into their back yard they’re driving on human graves. The graves are there.”
He also expressed disappointment
that no senior local representative had spoken about the findings, about
which he was “very shocked”. Some people had always denied that the
burial of the babies happened, he said.
Amnesty International
has called on the Government to ensure that the Commission of
Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes fully investigates alleged
human rights abuses, following the discovery of “significant” quantities
of human remains in Tuam.
Truth
“Today’s distressing revelations underline the need to ensure that this commission of investigation is a meaningful opportunity to finally and fully ensure truth and accountability for what happened to women and children in these institutions,” said Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland.
“Our thoughts are very much with
those most affected by today’s reports, the women who were former
residents of the home and their loved ones.”
The commission, which was
established in February 2015, is tasked with investigating allegations
of abuse at 14 institutions and four county homes between 1922 and 1998.
It is due to release its final report next year.
Infant mortality rates ranged from 30 per cent to 50 per cent in some of the homes in the 1930s and 1940s.
There is a dedicated telephone
information line being made available for people seeking further
information over the coming days.
Those seeking factual information may
contact 01-6473118/01-6473232, Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 5pm, and
Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 5pm.
Anyone affected can also contact the HSE information line directly on 1850-241-850.