Bessborough group ‘outraged’ at plans for 420 apartments on site of home

Members of a support group for the Bessborough mother and baby home are “outraged” at €105 million plans to construct 420 apartments on the Bessborough estate in Cork.

Earlier this year, Estuary View Enterprises (EVE) lodged combined strategic housing development (SHD) plans with An Bord Pleanála to construct 420 apartments plus a cafe and creche on the site in Blackrock in Cork city.

EVE is the largest landowner in the Bessborough estate, with its block spanning just over 40 acres. The new combined scheme followed the appeals board last year refusing planning permission to MWB Two Ltd for 246 apartments on a different parcel of land at Bessborough, south of the proposed development site.

The combined new SHD schemes from EVE comprise seven blocks of varying height, with a mixture of buy-to-rent and buy-to sell units planned. The tallest block would be 10 storeys.

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The mother and baby home operated at Bessborough from 1922 to 1999, and more than 900 children died from various causes while resident there, but only 64 have marked graves.

Objection to plans

Now, in response to the twin applications, the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home Support Group – whose members include Philomena Lee – has told An Bord Pleanála it is objecting to the plans across a number of grounds.

The group states that “the undisputed fact is that 859 children registered as born in Bessborough are missing”.

In the objection lodged on behalf of the support group by Carmel Cantwell, Ms Cantwell stated that “adoptees come from all over the world to visit the place they were born in and reflect on how lucky they were to get out alive”.

She added: “Mothers come to reflect on their time there and grieve for their children lost to adoption or whose burial places are unknown.”

“We are all outraged at the thought that this peaceful space could be overshadowed by blocks of apartments in the future. The threat of such developments adds to and perpetuates the trauma suffered by Bessborough survivors,” said Ms Cantwell. “There is too much ambiguity surrounding burials at Bessborough and, until a full independent investigation is carried out to determine the truth, there should be no further construction on the grounds.”

In advance of submitting the application, the applicants consulted with the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance (CSSA) and said that the CSSA had no objection in principle to the scheme.

The EVE planning statement says there is no evidence to suggest there are any children buried on the subject lands of the application.