Mayo event to remember victims of Tuam Mother and Baby Home

A special event in memory of all children and babies who are missing from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home is to be held for its fourth and final year in September.

The Tuam site is due to close as works are to begin in the coming weeks in preparation for the exhumations of these missing children and babies.

On Sunday, September 15, a small relay of walkers will carry the lantern from Jack’s Old Cottage in Islandeady, near Castlebar, from 7am and will travel approximately 62 km to arrive in Tuam for 7.30pm, where it will be reverently placed at the babies’ remembrance site.

Catherine Corless, a local historian in Tuam, was the first to uncover the shocking fact that 796 babies are still missing at the Tuam site and that some of them were interred in a site for a septic tank.

Valerie Jennings, one of the organisers of the event commented: “We would never have known about these beautiful missing children without the tireless efforts of Catherine Corless’ and we would not have had a commission of enquiry into Mother and Baby homes without her work. This walk is also to show appreciation and recognition to Catherine and her family.”

From November 2020 to 2023, a lantern has been carried for 65 km from Islandeady to Tuam by people who walked and cycled until it arrived at the site of the Mother and baby institution where it resides all year.

Over the years, on the marathon route to Tuam each year, families and individuals turned out in large numbers holding candles and glowing lanterns in gestures of support for the remembrance initiative.

There has always been such a massive level of support for the event and organisers are inviting people who wish to join them on this dignified memorial to pay tribute to the children. They hope to arrive in Tuam between 7pm and 8pm on Sunday evening, September 15 and people are asked to bring a battery operated candle to brighten up the site.

Daniel MacSweeney was appointed as Director of Authorised Intervention by the Government in May as the person charged with overseeing the exhumation process at the former mother-and-baby home in Tuam, Co Galway. He said the nature of the work to be carried out at the burial site in Tuam is such that it will take some time to complete.

Research by local historian Catherine Corless found there were no burial records for 796 children who died in the home between 1925 and 1961. Subsequent investigations determined that there were infant remains in 18 chambers on the site. Initial surveys have identified a range of bones from babies and children, up to the age of around six.

Speaking to Galway Bay FM, Mr MacSweeney said he was dealing with 'an extremely complex situation' both in terms of location, and the work to be carried out there. He said the exhumation and analysis would be done to the highest international forensic standards. But Mr MacSweeney cautioned that 'if there are 796 children, most of whom are under a year old ... there could be in excess of 200,000 bones to be found'.

“We need to track and trace each one of them, as we take it out of the ground, so that we can do the identification and the individualisation of remains, to the extent that that is possible. After that, efforts will be made to try to ascertain the causes and circumstances of death,” he said.

Mr MacSweeney said it was not known what would be found when the exhumation process began. Work on the site is due to begin later this month.

“So it’s time again to remember these little babies, 796 in all,” added Valerie. “This walk has nothing to do with politics or religion…just in remembrance of the beautiful babies, the precious mothers and the brave survivors.

“Some of the mothers are still alive. They have no idea where their babies are. We need to remember them all – innocent babies and their mothers,” she said.

Those interested in being involved can contact us by email: alittlelightoflovemayo@gmail.com or through the Facebook page Little light of Love.