Works at Tuam home site will be a world first

Site will be sealed from next Monday

AFTER more than a year of preparations, work on the excavation of the former Mother and Baby Home site will begin next Monday.

The site at the back of a housing estate on the Dublin Road will be forensically sealed and treated like a garda investigation scene for the next two years.

The complex excavation of the site and exhumation of the remains of several hundred babies and infants will be a world first.

Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam Daniel MacSweeney said this is a “period of very heightened emotions” for those with close links to the site, from survivors and relatives to the residents living in the vicinity as well as the wider community.

Over the coming days, people will have the final opportunity to visit the memorial garden ahead of it being cordoned off from Monday morning. The first few weeks will involve setting up the site and excavation will start in early July.

Read more in this week's edition of The Tuam Herald in shops now or buy our digital edition here