The public discovery of the burials more than a decade ago through the work of survivors and historian Catherine Corless made international headlines, sparked a national conversation about institutional abuse, and led to a formal Commission of Investigation and a State apology from the Taoiseach.
Now, as an excavation of the site finally begins, locals are conscious of how raw the pain from the abuse inflicted at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home still is for members of their community.
Reflecting on what happened there and the reason the excavation is needed has brought sadness. There’s also some hope that it might finally bring some semblance of justice or closure to families whose trauma has gone unacknowledged for decades.
For survivors and the families of victims, it’s a day with an emotional weight almost impossible to quantify.
Anna Carrigan learned in 2012 that she had two older brothers – John and William – who died in the Tuam institution.
Anna said that with the excavation starting, she feels like she is finally “taking off her armour” after a long fight and now has to “tend to [her] wounds”.
She said it was an extremely difficult journey to get to this point, with failures and obfuscations over the decades by those who knew about the kind of abuse happening behind the walls of the home and by the government and county council.
“It’s been a long walk through all of this and we met with nothing but obstructions and barriers and distractions,” she said.
“But today, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. Will it give us all the answers we’re looking for? I don’t know, but I think it’s a momentous thing, because it’s very hard to get justice in Ireland.”
The excavation work will carefully process human remains and any other physical evidence found buried under the ground at the site where the Bon Secours institution once stood.
The work to set up the site for excavation began on Monday, with surrounding roads closed off as trucks made deliveries and barriers were erected.
The site has been closed to public access to keep it under forensic control for the duration of the works.
“They were awful times,” one woman on the main street said.
She said hopes the excavation will bring some closure to the families of the victims and recognition of the suffering they went through.
Another woman on the main street said that it is “a sad day for a lot of families, but it might bring closure to a lot as well”.
“You’d also be afraid of the aftermath of opening old wounds. But we can only see the outcome after it’s done,” she said.
“It’s been such a long wait and hopefully it gives people that little bit of comfort. It’ll be a long journey.”
Years of waiting
It indeed has been a long journey for those who’ve been waiting for this day.
The Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam operated between 1925 and 1961.
It’s been more than a decade since historian Catherine Corless discovered that death notices existed for 796 babies and young children who died at the home but that there were no records of corresponding death notices.
Her work, along with the testimony of survivors and their families, led to test excavations in 2017 that confirmed the significant presence of remains of infants who were buried at the site in “horrific” circumstances.
It was 2022 when the legislation to enable the excavation was passed, and finally, affected families were notified this month that the excavation was about to start.
“It’s a significant day for Tuam,” a woman in a shop in the town said.
“It’s an opportunity for whatever family is left of the babies. It’s a dark period for Tuam. It was, and still is. It haunts a lot of people,” she said.
One woman said that the day would be a “very sad day” for anyone who lived in a mother and baby home, and another said that the “energy” was “down” in Tuam.
Another woman described “the whole thing” as being “very sad”.
She commended the work of those who uncovered what had happened at the site and the experts who are conducting the excavation, adding that the town will “rally around” those workers and that there would be “support” offered to them.
She said that she is worried about the possibility that it could “open a lot of wounds” for some people.
She also said that she thinks Tuam is “just the start” of uncovering what happened at institutions around the country.
Only the beginning
That sentiment – that the Tuam excavation is just the start, not the end, of bringing justice to people who were abused and mistreated by institutions – has also been expressed by campaigner Laura Angela Collins.
Laura, whose grandmother was in a Magdalene laundry for decades and buried in a mass grave in Cork along with other women, said the excavation represents “some hope” in a “dark situation”, and that the same scrutiny must be given to other locations where it is needed.
“There are so many places that deserve proper acknowledgement that haven’t received it, and neither has Tuam yet, and this is where it has to happen for Tuam but we can’t stop after Tuam either,” she said.
The excavation works in Tuam are expected to take around 24 months to complete. It’s hoped that once the works are complete, the children who died will be able to receive a proper burial.
Local councillor Ollie Turner said it is a “really important day, but it’s a day of poignancy”.
“It’s a day like today that you think of all of the families and the survivors, many of whom are living in the locality. It’s a day like today that you think of Catherine Corless and the work that she started over a decade ago, and how it led to this point,” Turner said.
“It’s been a really tough few years. Hopefully some closure can be brought to those amazingly brave people who’ve who’ve lived to tell the tale and understand exactly what went on in those decades.
“The ultimate goal is to give a dignified burial to all of those hundreds and hundreds of babies that were buried there, and then finally, maybe people can have peace.”