Taoiseach to make apology in Dáil to survivors of mother and baby homes; County mayor says she awaits apology with 'bated breath'

The Mayor of County Cork says she is waiting with bated breath for the State apology to survivors of Mother and Baby Homes by the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin this week. Picture Dan Linehan
THE Mayor of County Cork says she is waiting with bated breath for the State apology to survivors of Mother and Baby Homes by the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin this week.
A spokesperson for the Taoiseach confirmed to The Echo that he will make an apology in the Dáil on Wednesday, following tomorrow’s publication of the report compiled by a Commission of Investigation.
Mayor of County Cork, Mary Linehan Foley, was just six weeks old when she was adopted from Bessborough Mother and Baby home in Cork city in 1966.
She said: “I await the apology with bated breath, and I am happy that it is finally being recognised that an apology is needed from the State for all involved and I will see what it entails.”
Issues including forced adoptions and placing children in vaccine trials have been linked to the Mother and Baby Home in Bessborough.
Details of the Mother and Baby Home report have been leaked in advance of tomorrow’s publication and were published in the Sunday Independent.
The report is expected to reveal that an estimated 9,000 children died in 18 institutions between 1922 and 1998, when the last such home closed. The report will focus on 14 mother-and-baby homes and four county homes.

“These taunts linked their childbirth pain to their unmarried status.
I am deeply angered to see sensitive details of the Commission Report leaked in a newspaper this morning. It is completely unacceptable that the people affected by the Report have found out elements of the Report in this way.
— Roderic O’Gorman TD (@rodericogorman) January 10, 2021