Taioseach: Bessborough site should have memorial

The Taoiseach has said he believes Cork City Council should have purchased part of the Bessborough site as a memorial.

Cork City Council last week granted permission to Estuary View Enterprises for apartments at Bessborough despite three previous refusals relating to the estate and concerns that it may contain the unmarked graves of hundreds of children.

In the Dáil on Tuesday, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns raised the issue, saying the Mother and Baby Homes Commission report said 923 children died at the home, but burial records only exist for 64. 

Ms Cairns added that the commission concluded it was “highly likely some of those children were buried on the grounds”.

Examination

She said the State “either doesn’t care or doesn’t want to know, because there has never been a proper forensic examination of Bessborough”.

“Unbelievably, Cork City Council has granted planning permission for 140 apartments on the site. Survivors of Bessborough have never received justice. The very least the Government owes them is to find the bodies of their children.”

In response, Micheál Martin said the Cork South West TD had made “all sorts of accusations against the Government which are unfounded” and accused her of “taking the moral high ground” and being “morally condescending”.

“I met with survivors from Bessborough, and many did not want the forensic exhumation or examination of the site. 

"They want a memorial, and they wanted to be respected. I’ve spoken to survivors here... I would have preferred if the remainder of Bessborough was... the city council should, in my view, many years ago, should have acquired that for amenity purposes, and recreation and memorialisation.

“We don’t have a say, as an executive authority, in planning applications or planning decisions.”