9,000 children died in Ireland's former homes for 'illegitimate' infants: Inquiry
12 Jan 2021
Denise Gormley and her daughter Rosa, 7, pay their respects at the graveyard, where the bodies of 796 babies were uncovered, in Tuam, Ireland, on Tuesday. Reuters
Some 9,000 children died in homes for unmarried mothers and their offspring run by Ireland's Catholic Church from the 1920s to 1990s, an inquiry found on Tuesday, an "appalling" mortality rate that reflected brutal living conditions.
Ireland's Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (CIMBH) found "disquieting" levels of infant mortality at the institutions — operating in the historically Catholic nation as recently as 1998.
"It's difficult to conceive of the scale of the tragedy and the heartbreak behind that figure of 9,000 children and babies," said Ireland's Minister for Children, Roderic O'Gorman.