Woman's Hour

The Tuam babies scandal: A Woman's Hour special


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For this special edition of Woman's Hour, Nuala McGovern travels to Tuam, County Galway in Ireland to visit the site of a former mother and baby home which came to the world’s attention in 2014. It was revealed that up to 796 babies and young children who died in the care of the nuns who ran the home, had been disposed of in a disused sewage tank. Now, more than a decade since the scandal broke, work is starting on a full excavation.

Nuala has an exclusive interview with Daniel MacSweeney, who is in charge of the excavation, and hopes to provide answers for families who want to give their children a decent burial. She also speaks to the women who uncovered the scandal - Catherine Corless and Anna Corrigan, as well as journalist Alison O'Reilly who broke the story, and to Paul Forde, a survivor of the Tuam home, whose baby sister's remains may be in the mass grave.

If you believe you are related to a child buried in Tuam, please contact Daniel MacSweeney's team. The confidential phone line is 00 353 1 5391777 or email [email protected]

The postal address is: Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT), Custom House, Flood Street, Galway, H91 XV2C, Ireland.

And we're inviting you to also share your story with us, you can email Woman's Hour via the 'Contact Us' tab above.

Contributors:

Catherine Corless, campaigner and Tuam resident
Paul Forde, Tuam mother and baby home survivor
Daniel MacSweeney, Director of Authorised
Intervention at Tuam
Anna Corrigan, Tuam Babies Family Group
Alison O'Reilly, journalist at the Irish Examiner

Presenter: Nuala McGovern

Producer: Sarah Crawley
AP/Digital: Claire Fox

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