Tuam dig to determine if bodies are buried there

There is a round-the-clock Garda presence at the former mother and baby home in Tuam where test digs are taking place in an effort to determine if children at the home were buried.

Forensic experts are taking soil samples from the ground where it is suspected that children are buried. They have erected a tent and fencing to prevent locals and the media from viewing exactly what is going on.

Teresa Killeen Kelly, Chairperson of the Tuam Home Baby Graveyard Committee, explained that the forensic experts were opening trenches to determine if there are children buried there and how they were buried.

Former Mayor of Tuam Martin Ward, who is involved in a committee to honour the memory of those who lost their lives in the mother and baby home, said that a lot of what happened there was being sensationalized.

“We are talking about a different era when there were no medications available to combat some of the diseases that the children suffered. They were very difficult times,” Mr Ward added.

Archaeologists are on site this week in an exploration into how some of the children at the mother and baby home in Tuam met their death.

For more on this story, see the Connacht Tribune.