The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation (officially the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters) was a judicial commission of investigation, established in 2015 by the Irish government to investigate deaths and misconduct during the 20th century in mother and baby homes—institutions, most run by Catholic religious nuns, where unwed women were sent to deliver their babies. It was set up following statements that the bodies of up to 800 babies and children may have been interred in an unmarked mass grave in the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, located in Tuam, County Galway. Its remit additionally covered investigation into the records of and the practices at an additional thirteen Mother and Baby Homes. The members of the three-person commission were Judge Yvonne Murphy (chairperson), William Duncan and Mary E. Daly.
Originally scheduled to issue its final report by February 2018, the commission was granted a series of extensions.; ; The final report was published on 12 January 2021, and detailed that around 9,000 children, one in seven of those born in the 18 institutions covered by the commission's terms of reference, had died in them between 1922 and 1998, double the rate of infant mortality in the general population. The following day, Micheál Martin made a formal apology to survivors on behalf of the state. The commission was dissolved on 28 February 2021.
Background Amateur historian Catherine Corless conducted research into babies born at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in her hometown of Tuam, Galway. She collected data for several years, and published several articles in local newspapers in 2010, 2013, and 2014; her research suggested that the bodies of 796 babies and children may have been interred in an unrecorded mass grave at the Tuam Baby Home. Her research was brought to the attention of Alison O'Reilly, a reporter at the Irish Mail on Sunday. O'Reilly wrote an article on the subject in 2014, which garnered widespread international attention. Following the article, there were calls for an investigation of the site and for an inquiry into all such institutions.
Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home
The commission was established by the Irish government in the aftermath of extensive worldwide media coverage of an investigation claiming that remains of up to 800 children had been interred in an unmarked mass grave, on the grounds of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway. The most commonly recorded causes of death among the infants were congenital debilities, infectious diseases and malnutrition. O'Reilly's article for the Irish Mail on Sunday said that the bodies were buried in a site at the Home and that there was a high death rate of its residents. Corless' research led her to conclude that that the site was also the location of a septic tank, when overlaid with maps of the period of use as a workhouse.
Additional issues On 3 June 2015, the Irish Examiner published a special report which said that the Irish Health Services Executive (HSE) had voiced concerns in 2012 that up to 1,000 children may have been trafficked from the Home, and recommending that the then health minister be informed so that "a fully-fledged, fully resourced forensic investigation and State inquiry" could be launched. The issue had arisen within the HSE when a principal social worker responsible for adoption discovered "a large archive of photographs, documentation and correspondence relating to children sent for adoption to the USA" and "documentation in relation to discharges and admissions to psychiatric institutions in the Western area." The HSE said that there were letters from the Home to parents asking for money for the upkeep of their children and says that the duration of stay for children may have been prolonged by the order for financial reasons. It also uncovered letters to parents asking for money for the upkeep of some children who had already been discharged or had died. The social worker had compiled a list of "up to 1,000 names." HSE reports mentioned the possibility that children had been trafficked for adoption with one speculating that it was possible that death certificates were falsified so children could be "brokered" for adoption.
In May 2018, the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) referred 126 files to the commission regarding births that had been falsely registered by the Saint Patrick's Guild adoption agency. In a press release, Minister Zappone said: "We have known about the practice of incorrect registrations for many years, but it has been extremely difficult to identify and prove in individual cases because of the deliberate failure of those involved to keep records. However, Tusla has found clear evidence in the case of some records previously held by St Patrick's Guild."
Establishment On 4 June 2014, the Irish government announced it was bringing together representatives from multiple government departments to investigate the deaths at the Bon Secours home and to propose how to address the issue. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, said any government inquiry would not be confined to the home in Tuam and that officials would advise the government on the best form of inquiry before the end of June 2014. On 16 July 2014, the government announced that Judge Yvonne Murphy would chair a Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby homes, including Tuam. In October 2014, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, James Reilly, announced that the draft terms of reference for the inquiry had been circulated to government departments for comment.
On 19 February 2015, Reilly announced that the terms of reference, agreed upon by the cabinet and signed by the as a Government Order at Tuesday's cabinet meeting, established an independent commission, which had a three-year deadline and a budget of approximately €21 million.
The three-person Commission comprised Judge Yvonne Murphy as Chairperson, with an international legal expert on child protection and adoption, Dr William Duncan, and historian Professor Mary E. Daly, appointed as Commissioners.
Terms of Reference The terms of reference specified for the commission were to investigate and report on:
The circumstances for the entry of single women into Mother and Baby Homes and the exit pathways on leaving, including the extent of their participation in relevant decisions; The living conditions and care arrangements experienced by residents during their period of accommodation, including by reference to the literature on the living conditions and care experienced by mothers and children generally during the period; Mortality among mothers and children residing in the institutions (to determine the general causes, circumstances, and rates of mortality), compared to mortality among women and children generally; Post-mortem practices and procedures in respect of children or mothers who died while resident, including the reporting of deaths, burial arrangements, and transfer of remains to educational institutions for the purpose of the anatomical examination; The extent of compliance with relevant regulatory and ethical standards of the time of systemic vaccine trials found by the Commission to have been conducted on children resident in one or more of the institutions (including, inter alia, vaccine trials conducted using vaccines manufactured by Burroughs Welcome in 1960/61, 1970 or 1973); Arrangements for the entry of children into the institutions in circumstances when their mother was not also resident at the time of their entry; For children who did not remain in the care of their parents, to examine exit pathways on leaving the institutions so as to establish patterns of the referral or relevant relationships with other entities, and in particular to identify: the extent to which the child's welfare and protection were considered in practices relating to their placement in Ireland or abroad; the extent of participation of mothers in relevant decisions, including the procedures that were in place to obtain consent from mothers in respect of adoption, and whether these procedures were adequate for the purpose of ensuring such consent was full, free and informed; and the practices and procedures for placement of children where there was cooperation with another person or persons in arranging this placement, including where an intermediary organisation arranged a subsequent placement; To identify the extent to which any group of residents may have systematically been treated differently on any grounds (religion, race, Traveller identity, or disability).
The investigation covered the period from 1922, the foundation of the state, to 1998.
Institutions included The Terms of Reference specified that only 14 named mother and baby homes were to be included within the scope of the investigation. These were: Ard Mhuire, Dunboyne, County Meath; Belmont (Flatlets), Belmont Ave, Dublin 4; Bessborough Mother & Baby Home, Blackrock, Cork; Bethany Home, originally Blackhall Place, Dublin 7 and from 1934, Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6; Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, Tuam, County Galway; Denny House, Eglinton Rd, Dublin 4, originally Magdalen Home, 8 Lower Leeson St, Dublin 2; Kilrush, Cooraclare Rd, County Clare; Manor House, Castlepollard, County Westmeath; Ms. Carr's (Flatlets), 16 Northbrook Rd, Dublin 6; Regina Coeli Hostel, North Brunswick Street, Dublin 7; Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, County Tipperary; St. Gerard's, originally 39, Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1; St Patrick's Mother and Baby Home, Navan Road, Dublin 7, originally known as Pelletstown, and subsequent transfer to Eglinton House, Eglinton Rd, Dublin 4; and The Castle, Newtowncunningham, County Donegal.
In addition, a "representative sample" of state-operated County Homes, selected by the commission as fulfilling a function similar to the Mother and Baby Homes, were included. These were: St Kevin's Institution (Dublin Union) Stranorlar County Home, County Donegal (St Joseph's) Cork City County Home (St Finbarr's) Thomastown County Home, County Kilkenny (St Columba's)
Several of the named homes – principally Bessborough House (Cork), Bon Secours (Galway), Manor House (Westmeath), Sean Ross Abbey (Tipperary) and St. Patrick's (Dublin) – had previously been highlighted as sources for illegal domestic and foreign adoptions, with many of the children being trafficked to the United States.
Methodology In tandem with carrying out the investigations outlined in the Terms of Reference, the commission was also empowered to establish a "Confidential Committee", with the aim of providing a forum for former residents and staff of the named institutions, where they could share accounts of their experiences. Such accounts were to be used to inform relevant investigations, and the Confidential Committee was to publish a report on the accounts received.
The commission also included a literature-based academic social history module, in order to establish an objective and comprehensive historical analysis of significant relevant matters. The commission was authorised to rely on this analysis as evidence to inform its investigations and to assist it in framing its findings and conclusions within the wider social and historical context of the relevant period under investigation.
Tuam excavation