The Irish Times<\/em>. \u201cI never said to anyone that 800 bodies were dumped in a septic tank. That did not come from me at any point. They are not my words.\u201d<\/p>\nThe story that emerged from her work was reported this week in dramatic headlines around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell us the truth about the children dumped in Galway\u2019s mass graves\u201d\u00a0\u2013 The<\/em>Guardian<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cBodies of 800 babies, long-dead, found in septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers\u201d\u00a0\u2013 The Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cNearly 800 dead babies found in septic tank in Ireland\u201d \u2013 Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201c800 skeletons of babies found inside tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers\u201d\u00a0\u2013 New York Daily News<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u201cAlmost 800 \u2018forgotten\u2019 Irish children dumped in septic tank mass grave at Catholic home\u201d \u2013 ABC News, Australia.<\/p>\n
Corless, who lives outside Tuam, has been working for several years on records associated with the former St Mary\u2019s mother-and-baby home in the town. Her research has revealed that 796 children, most of them infants, died between 1925 and 1961, the 36 years that the home, run by Bon Secours, existed.<\/p>\n
Between 2011 and 2013 Corless paid \u20ac4 each time to get the children\u2019s publicly available death certificates. She says the total cost was \u20ac3,184. \u201cIf I didn\u2019t do it, nobody else would have done it. I had them all by last September.\u201d<\/p>\n
The children\u2019s names, ages, places of birth and causes of death were recorded. The average number of deaths over the 36-year period was just over 22 a year. The information recorded on these State- issued certificates has been seen by\u00a0The Irish Times<\/em>; the children are marked as having died variously of tuberculosis, convulsions, measles, whooping cough, influenza, bronchitis and meningitis, among other illnesses.<\/p>\nThe deaths of these 796 children are not in doubt. Their numbers are a stark reflection of a period in Ireland when infant mortality in general was very much higher than today, particularly in institutions, where infection spread rapidly. At times during those 36 years the Tuam home housed more than 200 children and 100 mothers, plus those who worked there, according to records Corless has found.<\/p>\n
What has upset, confused and dismayed her in recent days is the speculative nature of much of the reporting around the story, particularly about what happened to the children after they died. \u201cI never used that word \u2018dumped\u2019,\u201d she says again, with distress. \u201cI just wanted those children to be remembered and for their names to go up on a plaque. That was why I did this project, and now it has taken [on] a life of its own.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read the rest.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From The Irish Times:\u00a0 \u2018I never used that word \u2018dumped\u2019,\u201d\u00a0Catherine Corless, a local historian in Co\u00a0Galway, tells\u00a0The Irish Times. \u201cI never said to anyone that 800 bodies were dumped in a septic tank. That did not come from me at any point. They are not my words.\u201d The story that emerged from her work was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n