Further work must be carried out to identify burial sites of those who died in the care of religious institutions as part of the nation’s healing process, the special advocate for survivors, Patricia Carey, has said.
Welcoming the preparatory exhumation works now under way in Tuam, Ms Carey said she had been approached by institutional survivors who said they wished to know where their children had been buried.
“There is a need for further forensic regulations to identify the burial grounds for all those who died in institutions,” she said.
Ms Carey was speaking at an event in Tralee, Co Kerry, on Thursday where she met survivors of industrial schools, reformatories, mother and baby homes and other institutions.
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She said there had been deaths in all of Ireland’s institutions and it was important such burial grounds were identified.
Since her appointment in March last year, Ms Carey has been approached by mothers and siblings of those who were born and subsequently died in mother and baby homes and other institutions but were never told where they were buried. She said they were not looking for exhumations but simply to find out where children were buried so they could visit.
Will the Tuam excavation finally bring closure to families?
“Tuam is very welcome and it has taken a long time for the works to commence,” she said. “However – and I’ve said this to Minister [for Children Norma] Foley – we are an honourable and kind nation, and as an Irish people we honour and respect our dead. So why can’t we respect the dead in our institutions?”
She has contacted Ms Foley, requesting that all such sites be memorialised.
“The burial grounds must be identified,” she “strongly” pointed out to the Minister.
Ms Carey also called for the centralisation of related records, saying there was no reason for them to remain in the custody of religious orders.
