Mayo woman to complete 3,200-kilometre journey to honour Tuam babies

A Mayo woman is nearing the end of her series of 796 climbs in order to mark the Tuam Mother and Baby Homes tragedy.

On January 1, 2023, Claremorris native Anne Fahey Ronayne completed her first climb of the Hill of Maeve, just eight kilometers from the former site of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home.

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The home was the site of an atrocity where the bodies of hundreds of babies were discovered in a septic tank.

In total, 796 babies are unaccounted for from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home.

Now, 100 years on from when the first child, Baby Patrick Derrane, was placed in the tank, Anne will be summiting the Hill of Maeve.

Poignantly, every time that the Irishtown woman has set off from the base of the hill, she has recorded a clip saying the name of one of the babies, as well as their age.

To date, Anne has completed 791 climbs, leaving five more to complete before her final climb on Saturday, July 26.

“Mine is a personal journey to honour the little ones as well as an apology, but i have come to realise the importance of awareness in all of this,” she stated. “I have met so many people in the last year and a half who have the most incredible stories.”

It is hoped that a crowd will be able to make their way to the Galway hill to accompany her in her final summit of a long and remarkable journey.