Nuala McAllister was speaking after the remains of a further ten infants were found at the site of the former mother and baby home in Co Galway last week. The recent recovery was made after the excavation effort was paused to allow the team to inspect the area up to and beyond the institution’s old boundary wall.
Ahead of a mother and baby homes inquiry taking place in Northern Ireland, Ms McAllister asked the Deputy First Minister this week for “assurances” that “lessons learned” from the recent find of further infant bodies at Tuam can be applied to the inquiry, specifically in the case of Milltown Cemetery.
Here, there is disagreement between the Diocese of Down and Connor and campaigners over the “number of babies who are buried there and the history and security of the site.”
In response, Emma Little-Pengelly said: “It is critical that we try to preserve what is there at the moment to make sure full investigations can take place. What happened at Tuam and, indeed, at other sites is horrific.
“It is harrowing, and we must learn the lessons from that. There has been some discussion about what can be done through legislation to protect those sites pending further
investigations.
“I am more than happy to meet the Member to discuss that in more detail and to get an update for her on those ongoing discussions, including those with offcials, the diocese and Milltown cemetery.”
It comes amid ongoing concerns from campaigners that works to provide future burial provision at Milltown Cemetery could be building graves over a spot containing the unmarked graves of babies who were stillborn or died before baptism. These 'cillini' burials took place when unbaptised babies were laid to rest in shallow graves at the edge of unconsecrated ground often by their families.
Thousands of such burials took place in this area of the cemetery from the late 1930s right up until the 1990s.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Ms McAllister said everything needs to be taken into consideration for the mother and baby homes inquiry. The Alliance MLA believes her stillborn siblings are buried in the lower Milltown site.
She said: “We made sure burials including at Milltown would be part of the mother and baby home inquiry, as some babies buried there would have come from mother and baby homes.
“There is a conflict between campaigners and the Diocese regarding where the babies are and the number of babies buried, as well as the future of the site.
“I was asking the Deputy First Minister whether the fact they were able to locate babies’ remains at Tuam - in a site that wasn’t the original burial chamber - if that gives lessons then for the mother and baby home inquiry up here? When they look at burials and burial records, it’s not necessarily what you have in front of you, you need to take everything into consideration.”
The Bog Meadows area of the graveyard was sold by the church to the Ulster Wildlife Trust (UWT) in 2000, but reclaimed nine years later after forensic archeologist Toni Maguire's work
showed there were unmarked burial plots on the site.
The then Bishop of Down and Connor Noel Treanor publicly apologised to families for the land having been sold, and promised it would never be used again for burial.
An archaeological survey, carried out in 2008 and 2009, found that the area contains the remains of thousands of babies, with estimates that around 11,000 bodies could be buried without recognition. That estimate, however, is based on available records.
Archaeologist Toni Maguire, who carried out the survey along with geophysicist Alastair Russell, said she believes there could be “many more” bodies in the area for which there are no records due to the "unofficial" nature of some burials which were carried out by grieving parents simply placing bodies in already dug graves.
She said: "Not only are we dealing with burials the cemetery has conducted, we are dealing with burials of infants brought in at night and buried in small unmarked graves by families, as close to what they perceive as hallowed ground as they can get without actually putting them on hallowed ground.
"This is a common theme throughout Ireland, and arises from the fact the church would not bury stillborn babies, as babies not baptised were considered outside the remit of the Catholic Church’s care.
"People are paying thousands of pounds to buy what they think are new graves, and I would argue this land is covered in burials. We asked for this land to never be used again because there is potential for other burials to have taken place there."
As works continue on the site, campaigners have been in contact with the International Commission of Missing Persons (ICMP) based in The Hague, who have been invited to Northern Ireland to assist with the identification of marginalised burial associated with mother and baby institutions and areas of interest such as the Bog Meadows.
The Diocese of Down and Connor said ongoing works at the lower end of the cemetery, extending into the Bog Meadows, are aimed at upgrading drainage and pathways.
They insist that an archaeological survey carried out between 2023 and 2024, ahead of the works beginning, gives “complete confidence” that drainage and paths "will not be located in proximity to known burial sites."
A spokesperson for the Diocese of Down and Connor said: "The ongoing programme of maintenance within Milltown Cemetery requires the Trustees to attend to essential works throughout the cemetery including the upgrading of drainage and pathways. The lower boundary of the Cemetery extends into the ‘Bog Meadows’ and therefore presents with issues of drainage and access.
"However, before commencing this essential upgrading of drainage and pathways, it was necessary for the Trustees to establish if this area of the cemetery had previously been used for burials.
"In November 2023, the Trustees secured the professional services of Northern Archaeological Consultancy Ltd. to investigate this section of the cemetery along the line of paths requiring extension and to investigate potential existing drains or paths long overgrown.
"Having obtained a licence from the Department for Communities (DfC) a number of test trenches were undertaken to provide clarity on the location and extent of unmarked and unlocated burials within this greenfield area of the cemetery.
"This archaeological investigation was carried out between November 2023 and February 2024 and the results of the archaeological survey were compiled in a report which is publicly accessible on the Down and Connor website.
"Having provided the Trustees with a clear and defined boundary of the location of all burial sites within this section of the cemetery, this extensive archaeological survey assisted the Cemetery Trustees to determine where drains and pathways could be placed, with the complete confidence that they will not be located in proximity to known burial sites."