Survivors connect as work to identify relatives begins
Forensic facility now operational
OVER 100 family members and former residents of the Tuam Mother and Baby Home viewed the state-of-the-art forensic laboratory and mortuary that will be endeavouring to identify the remains of their relatives.
The remains of the 99 babies and infants that have been discovered to date during the excavation of the home site have started being brought to the multi-million-euro facility in at the HSE campus in Toghermore on the town’s outskirts.
Director of the Office of Authorised Intervention Tuam (ODAIT) Daniel MacSweeney told The Tuam Herald that the occasion was also an opportunity for the group to meet each other and discover how many had similar stories. “Some have never had that, and it was a show of solidarity and strength,” remarked Mr MacSweeney.
“It was helpful for them to understand what we’re doing with their relatives’ remains and that we will be giving them the dignity and respect that they deserve.”
The relatives and survivors got to meet the people who have been excavating the site for the past year – an important moment for all. As one member of the team remarked during the day “We were working for you.”
One of those who visited the laboratory was Barbara Buckley who travelled with her husband from Cork. Barbara was born in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home in 1957. She didn’t meet her birth mother until 2000 and it was her who told her about the Tuam Home.
When Catherine Corless’ research on the Tuam home was reported in the national media, Barbara was shocked and wanted to come to Tuam and visit the burial site.
It’s a place she and her husband John have visited several times since they came in 2016 and she was delighted to be part of the most recent briefing and visit.
“I found it very interesting, all the information they gave us and telling us about the work they are doing. They’re getting there, step by step,” Barbara told The Tuam Herald.
She found comfort too in meeting so many people connected to the home. “It was great to have that connection with all the other people.”
At a previous visit Barbara met with a man and a woman who she realised were in the home at the same time as she was. “We were babies there together and we do meet up now and then. It’s lovely.”