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An excavation of the site in Tuam is due to begin next week.RollingNews.ie

International expert team join specialists ahead of Tuam mother and baby home excavation

Personnel from Colombia, Spain, the UK, Canada and the US have joined Irish specialists.

1.16pm, 7 Jul 2025

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AN INTERNATIONAL TEAM of experts has joined specialists ahead of an excavation of a mass grave at the site of a former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

Personnel from Colombia, Spain, the UK, Canada and the US have joined the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention (ODAIT) team in Tuam as pre-excavation work continues.

An excavation of the site in Tuam is due to begin next week, aimed at identifying the remains of inflants who died at the home between 1925 and 1961.

Research by historian Catherine Corless indicated that 796 babes and young children were buried in a sewage system at the St Mary’s home for unmarried mothers and their children was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns.

The work at the burial site, which is being undertaken by the ODAIT, will involve exhumation, analysis, identification if possible, and re-interment of the remains at the site.

Speaking today, ODAIT leader Daniel McSweeney said: “We have reached an important new stage of this unique and incredibly complex excavation. It’s three weeks since we took control of the site, and significant progress has been made since then.”

Scenes from the excavation of the site of the former Mother and Baby Institution in Tuam, today.RollingNews.ie

RollingNews.ie

A Family and Survivors Day will be held tomorrow by the ODAIT, McSweeney said. A visit of the site will take place and the group will be updated about the work so far during the closed event tomorrow.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin delivered an apology on behalf of the state in 2021 for the treatment of women and children who were housed in mother and baby homes across Ireland.

The Bon Secours Sisters also offered a “profound apology” after acknowledging the order had “failed to protect the inherent dignity” of women and children in the Tuam home.

A 2.4-metre-high hoarding has been installed around the perimeter. The site is subject to security monitoring on a 24-hour basis to ensure the forensic integrity of the site during the excavation.

The excavation is expected to begin next week and is anticipated to last two years.

Press Association

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