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The Irish government is to apologise after an investigation found an appalling level of infant mortality in the country s mother-and-baby homes.
A shrine in Tuam, County Galway, erected in memory of up to 800 children who were buried at the site of the former home for unmarried mothers, run by nuns.
Photo: AFP or licensors
Established in the 19th and 20th Centuries, the institutions housed women and girls who became pregnant outside marriage.
About 9000 children died in the 18 institutions under investigation.
The government said the report revealed the country had a stifling, oppressive and brutally misogynistic culture .
Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Mícheál Martin said the report, which can be read in full here, described a dark, difficult and shameful chapter of Irish history.
By Press Association 2021
Hotel bed sheets with the names of hundreds of dead children draped on the gates of a mass burial site at Tuam, Co Galway
Survivors and their families have reacted with shock and dismay at the report into Ireland’s mother and baby homes.
The Commission of Investigation into Ireland’s mother and baby homes, where unmarried mothers and pregnant women were sent from the 1920s right up until the 1990s, has revealed a shocking infant mortality rate of 15%.
After years of delays the report was finally published on Tuesday, but those most affected appear frustrated and let down.