Galway vigil as mark of respect for Tuam babies

A public vigil will be held in Galway city centre tomorrow evening as a mark of respect to almost 800 babies and children who were buried at a mass grave at the St Mary’s mother and baby home in Tuam.

After reports that 796 children had been buried in an unmarked grave attracted global media attention over the past two weeks, local activists said it was important to organise a vigil in Galway.

The vigil at the children’s playground in Eyre Square (Wednesday, 7pm) has been organised to coincide with a Justice for the Tuam Babies march on the Dáil, which is taking place in Dublin.

The global media attention has followed 10 years of research by a housewife, Catherine Corless, to unearth the truth behind the home which was managed by the Bon Secours order from 1925 until its closure in 1961.

Reports that 796 ‘home babies’ – mostly the children of unmarried mothers – were buried in an unmarked mass grave in a water tank have caused outrage across the globe and led to calls for a commission of inquiry over the weekend.

The vigil at 7pm will be silent, although survivors or the family members of victims will be invited to say a few words. A lone piper is also expected to play a short lament.

It is being organised by the people who came together to pay respects to the late Savita Halappanavar during a dignified candle-lit vigil which attracted 1,000 people to Eyre Square in November 2012.

Meanwhile, Cllr Mairéad Farrell is calling on all Galway TDs to support her party’s motion to establish a statutory and comprehensive inquiry into all mother and baby homes.