THE long-awaited excavation of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home has officially begun, over a decade after the initial discovery of a mass grave shocked Ireland and drew international condemnation.
For many survivors and bereaved families, however, the long delay has rendered justice painfully overdue.
“It has been a long time coming when you think that we are waiting 11 years,” said Brenda Murphy, public relations officer for a survivors’ alliance, speaking on Newstalk Breakfast.
The institution, run by the Bon Secours Sisters in County Galway between 1925 and 1961, housed young women — mostly unmarried mothers — and their children during a period marked by deep moral conservatism and social stigma.
In 2014, local historian Catherine Corless uncovered death records for 796 children, sparking national outrage when it emerged many were believed to be buried in what was once a disused sewage system on the grounds.
A government investigation in 2017 confirmed “significant quantities of human remains' on the site, prompting calls for a full forensic excavation. Despite this, progress stalled for years.
“I thought in 2016, 2017 when Dr Niamh McCullagh entered the site and conducted test excavations... what I expected at that stage – and what Dr McCullagh expected – was that within a six-month period the site would again be investigated,” Murphy said. “So, we’re way down the line on that, we’re eight years on.”
The excavation team, which began work on Monday, is proceeding with caution and has not set expectations on what may be uncovered in the early days.
Heavy machinery will first be used to manipulate the site, followed by careful archaeological work. The final area to be excavated is the memorial garden, believed to hold the main structure containing the children’s remains.
“We do not know how the site was constructed in the 1970s,” Murphy added. “But we do know... that’s where the structures are of the mass graves of children.”
For many families, the excavation has come too late. “We’ve lost many people in the 11 years who have looked for children,” Murphy said.
“They’ve only taken samples for DNA matches for 14, and they have 80 people lined up to take [samples] within the next while. There are 796 children.”
The Sisters of Bon Secours Ireland have contributed €2.5 million towards the cost of the excavation, which is part of a wider national reckoning with Ireland’s history of institutional abuse.
St Mary’s Home in Tuam operated during a time when pregnancies outside marriage were heavily stigmatised, with state and Church working hand in hand to conceal and control the lives of thousands of women and children.
The excavation follows years of tireless advocacy by survivors, relatives, and campaigners — many of whom say their fight is not only about recovering remains but also about truth, accountability, and recognition.
“It’s not just a dig,” Murphy said. “It’s the final chapter in a story many people never wanted to be written.” - July 14, 2025
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