Philomena Lee adds voice to calls for investigation into deaths and burials at Bessborough

AN INTERNATIONALLY renowned mother and baby home survivor and advocate has added her voice to those calling for a full investigation into a former home institution in Cork.

Philomena Lee, whose life was the subject of the 2013 Oscar-nominated film Philomena, has called for a full, independent investigation into the former mother and baby home at Bessborough.

Between 1922 and 1998, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, ran Bessborough as a mother and baby home, and during that time 9,768 mothers and 8,938 babies were admitted.

In that time, 923 children died at the home or after being transferred from the home, according to the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation.

Burial records exist for only 64 children who died in the care of the Bessborough home, meaning that the remains of 859 children are missing.

In recent months, members of the Bessborough Support Group have called for a full investigation into deaths and burials associated with the former institution.

Philomena Lee adds voice to calls for investigation 

Philomena Lee, who is now 89 and is living in England, has added her voice to those calls.

Ms Lee was sent to the Sean Ross Abbey Mother and Baby Home in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, when she became pregnant aged 18, and when her son was aged three, he was sent for adoption by a US couple.

Ms Lee’s life was the subject of Martin Sixsmith’s 2009 book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, and a 2013 Stephen Frears film, Philomena, which starred Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, and which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress.

Speaking to The Echo, Ms Lee said she believed no development of the Bessborough site should occur, without a full forensic examination of the grounds of the former home.

“I fully support the Bessborough Support Group in asking for a full independent investigation into the deaths and burials of 923 children, of which 859 are unaccounted for according to the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation,” Ms Lee said.

“This should be done before any developments are considered,” Ms Lee added.

Commemoration

Carmel Cantwell, whose brother William was born at the home in 1960, and who died at St Finbarr’s Hospital six weeks later, is a member of the Bessborough Support Group, and she welcomed Ms Lee’s support.

Ms Cantwell told The Echo that the group wanted a thorough, independent investigation, to establish whether or not a mass burial site exists on the grounds at Bessborough.

“We do know from witnesses that some children were buried on the grounds in different locations,” Ms Cantwell said.

Those witness accounts are at odds with a report, commissioned by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and published in February, which suggested there was only one burial site on the grounds of the home.

That report, by archaeological contractors Eachtra Heritage, cited research by the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance, which had uncovered a 1949/1950 Ordnance Survey trace map, showing an area north of the nuns’ graveyard, marked “children’s burial ground”, but said burial patterns in the nuns’ graveyard suggested children may have been buried there.

“We conclude by favouring the hypothesis that [there] was only ever one burial ground in Bessborough, and that it contains both children and nuns,” the report said.

Ms Cantwell said an annual commemoration for the women and children of Bessborough, held since 2014, had helped survivors to find their voices and to tell their stories, while asking questions about how their children died and where they were buried.

“The folly beside the nuns’ graveyard became the unofficial headstone for all the children that died, and we visited and placed flowers there, but the truth must be established if we are to respectfully honour the women and children of Bessborough in any meaningful way,” Ms Cantwell said.

“Anything less would be a travesty.”

‘Commemorating Women and Children of Bessboro’ will take place at 2pm on Sunday at the Bessborough Centre.