Born out of wedlock, buried in septic tanks: Ireland begins excavation of mass grave where 800 babies were buried by nuns

Historian Catherine Corless poses on the site of the former St Mary's Mother and Baby Home, in Tuam, in the outskirts of Galway, western Ireland, a site believed to be containing a mass grave of children and mothers, on May 20, 2025. St Mary's Mother and Baby Home was run by nuns from the Bon Secours order, Catherine Corless's research has uncovered that, between 1925 and 1961, 796 children died in the St Mary's Mother and Baby Home and are believed to be buried at this site some in large septic tanks. (AFP)

Nearly a century after hundreds of infants were secretly buried by nuns in Tuam, County Galway, Ireland has begun the long-awaited excavation of a mass, unmarked grave tied to one of its darkest institutional scandals.

On Monday, a mechanical digger will begin carefully removing soil from a 5,000-square-metre site believed to contain the remains of 796 babies and young children who died between 1925 and 1961 at the St Mary’s Mother and Baby Home, run by the Bon Secours order.

The excavation, expected to span two years, is a critical step in Ireland’s broader reckoning with the mistreatment of unmarried mothers and their children in both religious and state institutions. The neglect and stigma these children endured have been described as a deep national shame.

At the Tuam facility—where young, unmarried women and girls were sent to deliver babies—some of the deceased infants were buried in a defunct underground septic system, with no burial records to mark their existence.

Their fate remained hidden until local historian Catherine Corless uncovered 796 death certificates a decade ago, prompting a national outcry. Her findings triggered a judicial inquiry, a formal state apology, and a government commitment to exhume the site.

Now, behind fences in a quiet housing estate where the home once stood, work has begun under the supervision of the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention in Tuam (Odait). An international team of 18 specialists—including archaeologists, anthropologists, and forensic experts from Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia, Colombia, and Spain—will carry out the delicate task.

Led by Daniel MacSweeney, a former envoy with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the team hopes to recover, identify, and return remains to families, followed by proper reburial. However, the process is fraught with challenges: waterlogged ground, commingled remains, and interference from famine-era graves nearby complicate the effort.

The Bon Secours sisters operated the institution with approval from the Irish state, which for decades turned a blind eye to the deprivation, misogyny, and high infant mortality within its walls. After closing in 1961, the building was razed and a housing estate constructed over the burial ground.