Former minister for children voices concerns over Bessborough apartments plan

Former minister for children Katherine Zappone wrote to An Coimisiún Pleanála(ACP) in April expressing serious concerns about plans to build apartments on the grounds of the former Bessborough mother and baby institution in Cork.

Ms Zappone’s submission was among publicly available documentation obtained by Patricia Carey, the special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse.

Two weeks ago, the commission cleared the way for Estuary View Enterprises to build 106 apartments at Bessborough, in Ballinure.

In 2021, the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes found that burial records missing for 859 Bessborough infant and 19 women, it was “highly likely” burials occurred on the institution’s grounds.

The commission of investigation ran from 2015 to 2021, and for most of its time, Ms Zappone, who was children’s minister from 2016 to 2020, was responsible for its oversight.

Not sufficient

In her submission to the planning agency, Ms Zappone said “enough was not done to determine burial sites in Bessborough”, adding that the commission’s “modest” efforts “were not sufficient or similar to the efforts made at Tuam.” 

Rejecting the agency’s stipulation that forensic archaeologists be on-site during a building development, Ms Zappone said having builders on the site held the “potential to destroy human remains, even with monitoring”.

Ms Carey said many mothers did not know where their child was buried on the grounds of institutions across Ireland.

“The fact that there is no definite identification these burial grounds is a heartbreaking situation for those mothers and the wider family members of those children who died,” she said.

Two weeks ago, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told The Echo he had asked Cork City Council to engage with Bessborough landowners. 

It is believed that the State is willing to assist the council in purchasing the land, should negotiations prove successful.