Historian Catherine Corless, whose work led to the establishment of the mother and baby homes commission of investigation, has said she is "very, very pleased" with its latest report and described its findings as "the whole truth".
The fifth interim report of the commission makes a number of findings in relation to the burials of 800 children at the Tuam home, whose past was uncovered and publicised by Ms Corless.
The report contains significant criticism of Galway County Council, most notably the finding that it “must have known something about the manner of burial” when the home was in operation.
It states that the Sisters of Bons Secours were unable to provide any information about the burials.
Minister for Children Katherine Zappone has said there is a belief people did not provide full information to the commission and that members of the local community "know more about burial arrangements".
Ms Corless agreed it was likely people were withholding information and that everything was “very hush hush”, adding that there was “absolutely” a sense of collective guilt in the town.
She argued that Galway council “would have to have known about the burials, because they gave grants for the burials”.
“They’ve covered up the truth right from the beginning, both the County Council and the Bons Secours,” she told The Irish Times. “When I contacted them initially back in 2013, nobody knew anything, the council or the sisters. It’s quite obvious of course they knew. They should be challenged on that and brought forward.”
A statement from the Sisters of Bons Secours said the religious order had “always fully cooperated” with the Commission and would continue to do so and that “every piece of information we have on the Tuam home we have shared with the Commission.”
Galway County Council said it supported the Commission’s request that anyone with further information come forward. It said the council would continue to facilitate the commission with “full, ongoing and open access to all records and files, including archival material, held by Galway County Council” and would “continue to afford the Commission its full co-operation and assistance in undertaking its work”.
Fianna Fáil councillor Donagh Killilea described the minister’s calls for people to come forward with more information as “shameful”, saying the story was “still raw” for many. “The people she should be talking to are those involved in the construction of houses in and around the burial ground and engineers who worked in Galway County Council,” said Mr Killilea. “No doubt what went on in the home was wrong, the homes were wrong, but people had no alternative at the time. But this suggestion by the Minister and the Commission is a slur on the people of Tuam.”
PJ Haverty from Menlough, who was in the home until he was the age of seven, said he didn’t understand why the Minister made the statement. “I hadn’t a clue about what happened to babies in the home when they died and never heard anything about any of them being sold to America. There would be very few alive now who would know, if they knew anything.”
Survivors from the Bethany home in Dublin criticised the commission for reporting incorrect figures on the number of burials at Mount Jerome Cemetery and for leaving “71 children” from Bethany out of the report. It noted the Commission identified 240-260 burials at Mount Jerome while Bethany survivors identified 310 burials in Harold’s Cross. Dr Niall Meehan said he had flagged the discrepancies with the authors of the report before publication and called for a meeting to discuss the conflicting figures.
