Report into mother and baby home burials due to be published

A report into burial practices at mother and baby homes is to be brought to Cabinet by Minister for Children Katherine Zappone on Tuesday morning.

The fifth interim report from the Mother and Baby Homes Commission is expected to focus on burial arrangements made for women and children who died while resident in the institutions.

Ms Zappone received the report on March 15th. She has told the Dáil in parliamentary correspondence that it was a “substantial report”.

"The report includes extensive technical reports prepared in the course of the commission's investigations into the burial site associated with the institution formerly known as the Tuam Mother and Baby Home and the commission's assessment of burial arrangements in respect of a number of other institutions within its remit.

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“It also reports on burial arrangements in circumstances where the remains were initially transferred to educational institutions for anatomical examination.”

Separate report

A second separate report is also expected to be published on Tuesday. This report will focus on the deliberations of a consultative group which is steered by the Minister and in which former residents can discuss their views.

The commission, chaired by retired Circuit Court Judge Yvonne Murphy, was set up in February 2015 after Galway-based historian Catherine Corless published research that revealed death certificates for 796 children at the Tuam mother and baby home with no indication of their burial places.

The commission has been tasked with investigating 14 mother and baby homes, as well as four “county homes”, which operated across the State at different times between 1922 and 1998.