Survivors of mother and baby institution must determine site’s future – minister

Survivors of the mother and baby institution in Bessborough, Co Cork, should be “front and centre in the determination of the future of that site”, a Government minister has said.

On Thursday, Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin told Leader’s Questions the decision of An Coimisiún Pleanála to grant permission to a private developer to build 106 apartments on the site was “appalling, utterly, utterly disgraceful”.

Bessborough mother and baby home was run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and operated between 1922 and 1998.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes’ 2021 report found almost 20,000 women and children were admitted during that time.

It also found that 923 babies and young children who had lived at the institution, or whose mothers had lived there while pregnant, had died.

In February, Cork City Council granted Estuary View Enterprises 2020 Limited planning permission to develop a section of the five-acre site for housing, a decision Bessboro Mother and Baby Home Support Group and local Labour councillor Peter Horgan appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála.

Mr Ó Broin said the decision to allow the development to go ahead was “met with real anger, disgust, and hurt” by survivors, families, and the public, “not least because 829 children who died in Bessborough are unaccounted for to this very day”.

“We still do not know where they are buried or what happened to them and there has been no proper investigation of the land.”

The party’s housing spokesperson called on the Government to buy the site, facilitate an investigation of the land and preserve it as “a site of national conscience”.

Peter Burke, Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, said the Government could not have intervened while An Coimisiún Pleanála or planning authorities were making their decisions.

“We know those are independent processes, and they had to run their course,” he said.

Addressing calls for the State to acquire the site, he said he could not “respond with exact precision” on what would happen.

“But while I say it should be victim-centred, and I really believe this; those who have been affected by that trauma, those families who still carry this grief to this very day, need to be front and centre in the determination of the future of that site.”

He was then asked by Mr Ó Broin when the Government would engage with victims and survivors to discuss the issues.

Mr Burke said he had not spoken to the Taoiseach or Tánaiste since An Coimisiún Pleanála’s decision was announced earlier on Thursday.

“Government is aware of the processes that were ongoing, and obviously, it’s very difficult to engage when a legal process by independent institutions is being determined upon, but now we have the opportunity, and absolutely we will engage proactively with victims and survivors,” he said.