DIG FOR 700 BABIES FINALLY GETS GOING

PRE-EXCAVATION work on the site of a notorious former mother and baby home began yesterday.

- BY DAVID YOUNG

The preparatory phase, which will last around four weeks, comes ahead of the full-scale excavation of the site in Tuam, Co Galway to try to identify the remains of infants who died at the home between 1925 and 1961.

In 2014, research led by historian Catherine Corless indicated that 796 babies and young children were buried in a sewage system at the institution across that period of time.

The St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns.