{"id":68400,"date":"2025-06-18T13:08:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T13:08:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=68400"},"modified":"2025-06-18T13:08:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T13:08:31","slug":"796-babies-feared-buried-in-septic-tank-at-catholic-run-home-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/06\/18\/796-babies-feared-buried-in-septic-tank-at-catholic-run-home-in-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"796 Babies Feared Buried in Septic Tank at Catholic-Run Home in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Anifowoshe Oladipupo<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Irish authorities have begun excavating a site in Tuam, County Galway, believed to contain the remains of nearly 800 infants who died at a Catholic-run institution for unmarried mothers.<\/p>\n<p>According to Sky News on Tuesday, the site once housed the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, which operated under the management of a Catholic order of nuns from 1925 to 1961.<\/p>\n<p>The institution served unmarried pregnant women, many of whom were victims of rape or sexual abuse, and were forced to give up their babies after birth.<\/p>\n<p>The investigation into the site was sparked in 2014 by local historian Catherine Corless, who uncovered death certificates for 798 children but could only find burial records for one.<\/p>\n<p>Her revelations ignited national outrage and led to a government inquiry into Ireland\u2019s historical treatment of women and children in institutional care.<\/p>\n<p>Initial findings suggest that the remains of many of the babies, some as young as 35 weeks gestation, were discarded in a former septic tank on the property; an area now surrounded by a modern apartment complex.<\/p>\n<p>Corless described the makeshift grave, known locally as \u201cthe pit,\u201d as a harrowing symbol of neglect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is where 796 babies may have been dumped without ceremony, dignity, or recognition,\u201d she told Sky News.<\/p>\n<p>The excavation, which began this week, aims to recover and identify the remains, offering the infants a dignified burial. The process is expected to take up to two years.<\/p>\n<p>The case has reignited calls for justice, accountability, and a broader reckoning with Ireland\u2019s history of institutional abuse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Anifowoshe Oladipupo Irish authorities have begun excavating a site in Tuam, County Galway, believed to contain the remains of nearly 800 infants who died at a Catholic-run institution for unmarried mothers. According to Sky News on Tuesday, the site once housed the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, which operated under the management of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":68401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181,249],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","category-world-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68402,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68400\/revisions\/68402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}