Human rights academics have written to An Coimisiún Pleanála expressing their objection to the construction of a large-scale residential development on the site of the Bessborough Mother and Baby institution.
Developer Estuary View Enterprises has been granted permission for the development at Bessborough in Ballinure, Blackrock in Cork.
It will involve the demolition of ten existing agricultural buildings and log cabin structures and the construction of 140 residential apartments across three blocks.
The letter to An Coimisiún Pleanála says that the State "is aware of a situation of mass disappearance" and the probability that some of the disappeared are buried in the grounds of Bessborough.
The authors, who include Dr Maeve O'Rourke, Dr Claire McGettrick and Dr Máiréad Enright of the Clann Project, pointed out that An Bord Pleanála and An Coimisiún Pleanála had refused planning permission for the site numerous times since May 2021 due to the lack of clarity regarding the whereabouts of children and mothers who were confined in Bessborough.
The group notes that the State is obliged under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to investigate the deaths of children and mothers, and to ascertain the whereabouts of the disappeared and return their remains to relatives.
"The State has not complied with its European human rights law obligations in respect of the deaths and disappearances of children and women who were confined in Bessborough Mother and Baby institution," according to the letter.
The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation (MBHCOI) archive is inaccessible to affected people and the public, including An Coimisiún Pleanála and members of Cork City Council.
The group has pointed out that the MBHCOI did not use "all reasonable means" to search for the disappeared children and women of Bessborough, such as geophysical surveys using ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity or magnetometry.
"The State has not established any other investigation into the disappeared children and mothers of Bessborough," according to the letter.
It states that An Coimisiún Pleanála is obliged to uphold the State’s European human rights law obligations, which cannot be displaced or delegated by way of conditions on a grant of planning permission to a private property developer.
Planning for the development was granted by Cork City Council in February subject to 70 conditions.
Since then, a vigil and a protest have been held in Cork and outside Leinster House by the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home Support Group against conditional permission being granted by the council for the development.
It is understood that the developer has been instructed to carry out archaeological excavations during the development works. However, survivors are of the view that this instruction is inadequate.
The Special Advocate for Survivors has also called for the immediate halt of any development at Bessborough.
Patricia Carey has sought a programme of works to identify burial grounds of all the children and women buried on the institution's lands.
She described the proposed housing development on the grounds of the former Mother and Baby Home Institution as "an outrage and an afront to the dignity of all those who died there".
Bessborough was opened in 1922 and was a mother and baby institution until 1998.
It was owned and run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
64 graves of the over 923 children who died in Bessborough have been identified and located.
However, over 18,000 women and children spent time in Bessborough and many mothers whose children died at the institution, do not know where their children are buried.
According to the Mother and Baby Homes Commission, inspections carried out by the Department of Local Government and Public Health inspector Alice Litster in the 1940s estimated an infant mortality rate of 82%.
Special Advocate Patricia Carey has pointed out that dignified burial, location of burial grounds and dignified memorialisation is one of the most frequently issues raised with her since she took up the role of Special Advocate.
Among the campaigners is Carmel Cantwell from the Bessborough Mother and Baby Support Group who has campaigned for decades regarding her mother Bridget’s son, Carmel’s only brother William, who died in Bessborough.