Cork City Council has been urged to step in to purchase a section of the former Bessborough mother and baby home site and convert it into a memorial garden.
An Bord Pleanála refused planning permission for a 92-apartment development near the site of an area marked as Children’s Burial Ground on a 1950s Ordnance Survey map, which is believed to contain the remains of hundreds of infants who died at the home over six decades.
Maureen Considine, of the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance (CSSA), welcomed the decision but said the land should now be treated with “the same respect as any other public burial ground”.
“Cork City Council need to step in now and they need to purchase it or perhaps at this stage, the developer might be willing to donate it because we still believe there needs to be some memorialisation there to all the babies who died at Bessborough,” said Ms Considine.
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The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes report in January 2021 noted that Bessborough was run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary from 1922 until 1998 when it closed as a mother and baby home.
In that time some 9,768 women and 8,938 children passed through its doors and of those born there, some 923 died as infants. However, the commission could only find burial records for 64 with no records as to where the remaining 859 infants were buried.
An Bord Pleanála, in its decision on the latest revised MWB Two Ltd application for a 92-apartment development issued on Wednesday, made reference to the Children’s Burial Ground and the possibility that the site may contain human remains.
Declan Harrington of MWB Two Ltd said that he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the decision by An Bord Pleanála but he said the company needed time to consider the decision in detail before making any further comment on the ruling.
He also declined to comment on Ms Considine’s suggestion that the council could purchase back the 1.5-hectare (3.7-acre) site from MWB Two Ltd or that MWB Two Ltd could donate to the council for the development of a memorial garden. The council was also contacted for comment.
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