New baby graveyard found at Tuam, Ireland home where 796 infants were feared dumped

A second baby graveyard has been found at the site of a maternity home for unwed mothers run by Catholic nuns in Ireland, where the remains of almost 800 infants are feared to be buried.

“Consistent evidence” of a second burial site at the former mother and baby home in Tuam was found in the wake of the latest excavation, which was started this summer by an independent body, the Office of the Director of Authorized Intervention in Tuam (ODAIT).

“There were no surface or ground level indications of the possibility of a burial ground at this location prior to excavation, the group said in a statement.

The second burial area is between 55 and 105 yards from a septic tank where the bodies of 796 infants born to unwed mothers were believed to have been dumped, director Daniel MacSweeney told Irish broadcaster RTE on Friday.

Since the start of the excavation in July, the remains of 11 infants have been found at the site of the home about 120 miles from Dublin in County Galway.

The remains were found in coffins and have now been sent for forensic analysis, ODAIT said.

So far, 160 people have contacted the Office of the Director of Authorized Intervention in Tuam to offer DNA samples, which could help identify the dead babies, MacSweeney said.

He called on other potential eligible relatives to come forward.

Bon Secours known locally in Tuam as The Home, was one of dozens of such “homes” where pregnant teens and unmarried women in Ireland were sent to give birth in secret throughout the 20th century.

Women and girls would be separated from their newborn children who were then raised by nuns until they were adopted without the mother’s knowledge.

Some children were sent as far away as the US, Canada or Australia.

But hundreds of others died.

Meanwhile, the mothers would be interned for a year to do unpaid work in the home.

In total, 798 children are believed to have died at the home in Tuam between 1925 and its closure in 1961.

Just two infants were buried in a nearby cemetery, according to research from local historian, Catherine Corless, in 2014.

In 2015, the Irish government set up an investigation into 14 mother and baby homes and four county homes across Ireland, including Tuam.

The inquiry found “significant quantities” of human remains at the Tuam site, and evidence of an “appalling level of infant mortality” in the institutions nationwide.

That inquiry led do a formal government apology in 2021, along with a redress scheme and an apology from the Sisters of Bon Secours, the nuns who ran the homes.

Forensic work is expected to last for another two years.