‘What happened to them?’

"I can't tell you how many letters I've written to Minister Roderic O’Gorman asking for Bessborough to be investigated properly.”

Those were the words of Carmel Cantwell, whose brother was born in Bessborough and died at six weeks of age at St Finbarr’s hospital. She has spent years campaigning for justice for the mothers and children of Bessborough.

According to Carmel, the response from the Minister is usually “a generic letter”.

Her comments come following a recent RTÉ documentary called Stolen which has reignited public interest in the tragic history of mother and baby homes, shedding light on the experiences of the women and children who suffered within them.

Bessborough, located in Blackrock and operated by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was among the institutions featured in the documentary.

Between 1922 and 1998, 923 babies died at Bessborough, yet only 64 burial records exist for the children.

She told the Cork Independent: “There’s 859 babies unaccounted for, but for those children that were stillborn there's no paperwork for them at all, and we know that there were a lot of stillbirths. There’s 761 that actually died on the premises, so what happened to them?” she said.

In 1960, Carmel’s mother gave birth to a healthy baby boy, William, at Bessborough. However he soon fell ill. Despite her pleas for medical help for her son, he was only sent to hospital at 16 days old, where he later died. It wasn’t until 2019 that her mother discovered that William was not buried at Bessborough as she had been told, but in Carr's Hill cemetery.

The whereabouts of hundreds of other children who died there remain unknown.

Despite repeated requests from campaigners for a thorough investigation and scan of the institution's grounds to locate the babies' burial site, Carmel says their appeals have largely fallen on deaf ears.

She also noted that the religious orders involved have avoided accountability by refusing to contribute to the Government's redress scheme. "They hired the best PR, the best lawyers, they fought everything and everybody along the way, and they were left off the hook," she added.

She continued: “They want to dismiss it as history, but this is still people’s lives now. One sentence would satisfy my mother. We acknowledge that your baby needn't have died, he was neglected and we are very sorry.’”

It is Carmel’s hope that there will be no further development on the grounds: “Out of the 200 acres of original grounds of Bessborough there has been so much development already. There’s 60 acres left. We don't want blocks of apartments overpowering that quiet space. There were 19,000 women and children that went through Bessborough.

“We think it should be preserved in their memory. But for the government to do that, they would have to purchase what's left, which will cost money, therefore they don't want to.”

Labour Cllr Peter Horgan has renewed his call for the state to acquire the grounds of Bessborough through a compulsory purchase order. At a recent Cork City Council meeting, he tabled a motion suggesting the land be developed into a public park to commemorate the site's history. The motion will be put forward to the City Council’s Corporate Policy Group for discussion on 7 October.

Speaking about the potential development of the grounds, Cllr Horgan said: “It's a site that's fraught with emotion and history. I think ultimately, it's an area that I think needs to be preserved as it is.”

“If the state or the city were to step in and make it a public park rather than one small area being a memorial, that would be a fitting tribute, and I think it could bring closure for a lot of people if it was protected under CPO. I know we're in a housing crisis, but with a site like this, there is too much emotion and too much history involved,” he told the newspaper.

There are currently two planning applications for the development of Bessborough pending with An Bord Pleanála, which were expected to be decided in 2022. However, Cllr Horgan explained that "there is no update on the applications," which remain under review by an inspector.