'The children were listened to': Survivors welcome Bessborough decision
Linehan Home Lands Picture: Former On Cork Dan Folly And Baby The The Mother Bessborough, Plaque Of The The Of Wall On At A
“The children were listened to but we still have a way to go to get them justice.”
That was the emotional reaction from one campaigner today following An Bord Pleanála's decision to refuse planning for 179 apartments on a portion of the former Bessborough mother and baby home estate in Cork City amid concerns about the possible location of a children’s burial ground on the site.
Carmel Cantwell, whose brother William died in Bessborough in 1960, aged six weeks, and whom she discovered through the Commission of Investigation's work was buried in Carr's Hill and not Bessborough as the family had been told, was among the many campaigners, survivors, and advocates who gave evidence at last month’s oral hearing into the contentious apartments plan.
Terri Harrison, who told the oral hearing that she lost her sense of identity in 1973 when, at the age of 18, she was “taken from the UK and imprisoned in Bessborough”, said she feels that survivors have been heard.
But they, and Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance (CSSA), who helped present vital evidence to the oral hearing, said the State now needs to intervene to protect Bessborough.
Another development firm, which owns most of the rest of the estate, has already asked Cork City Council to rezone the lands for housing and a suburban park.
"We are concerned by the possibility that a commercial developer may be authorised to carry out investigations which should be the responsibility of the State," they said.
Developers MWB Two has applied directly to An Bord Pleanála for planning for a 179-unit strategic housing development (SHD) in three apartment blocks on a privately owned 3.7-acre site in the south-eastern corner of the former Bessborough estate.
It is the larger of two elements of a residential development called Gateway View. The developers have separately appealed to the board a city council decision to refuse planning for the other part — a fourth apartment block. A decision on that appeal is awaited.
However, the SHD site overlaps an area of land marked on historic maps as 'childrens’ burial ground' and the board held a three-day oral hearing into the application last month.
Witnesses for MWB Two told the hearing that the words ‘childrens’ burial ground’, which appear on a 1949/1950 Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSi) trace map of Bessborough, relate to an existing burial site near the estate folly, and not to the area of land over which they were written.
But CSSA, who told the hearing that it was not opposed to residential development — just to development on the burial site — presented a mapping expert whose evidence proved crucial.
John Clarkin, who has worked with OSi for over 46 years, said he believes a children’s burial ground is located in the field as indicated on the trace map, and the words do not relate to the small adjoining graveyard which was associated with the burial of nuns from 1956.
He told the hearing that he believes the use of the specific words ‘childrens’ burial ground’ on the trace map, combined with the size of the font, and the placement of the letter C, was done deliberately by expert mappers to indicate the location of a children’s burial ground.
He said the men who made the map — a Mr Horgan who spent four days on site-work at Bessborough in October 1949, and a Mr O’Rourke who spent a day-and-a-half on the site in January 1950 — were regarded as “legends” in the mapping world, and worked to strict OSi guidelines set out in the agency’s so-called ‘red book’.
“Revisers employed by OSi Ireland carrying out detailed mapping exercises such as this, in accordance with the rules, do not record new things which are not there. They do not record children’s burial grounds that are not present,” he said.
“Not only is ‘burial ground’ recorded, it is recorded as a ‘childrens’ burial ground’.”
He said the inclusion of the new name on a map would have been signed off by the nuns who ran Bessborough, and he added: “The remainder of the map is highly accurate and professionally made. Leaving aside the ‘childrens’ burial ground’, there is not one other detail in the trace drawing that appears to be incorrect.
“It is highly improbable, given the fact that the maps were published and were publicly available and used for numerous statutory purposes, including the setting of the net annual values, that the inclusion of a children’s burial ground in error would not be corrected by the Congregation, or any other person.”
This evidence proved to be crucial as planning inspector Karen Kenny prepared her report.
She said the proposed SHD would not materially contravene the landscape designations of the site, and that the height, scale, and appearance of the development would not be out of character with the emerging pattern of development in the area.
But, crucially, she said when she considered the range of mapping evidence submitted by CSSA, when taken in conjunction with the findings of the Commission of Investigation, it raised a reasonable concern in relation to the potential for unrecorded burials, including modern human remains, within the site.
Ms Kenny said that she had considered whether the matter could be satisfactorily addressed by way of a planning condition. But given the complex and sensitive nature of the matters involved, she said a grant of planning at this stage would be premature until it is established whether there are remains present within the site or not, and she recommended that planning permission be refused.
The board agreed.
In its decision, it said having regard to the fifth interim report and the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, and on the basis of the information submitted in the course of the application and oral hearing, it was not satisfied that the site was not previously used as, and does not contain, a children’s burial ground, and it said it considers that there are reasonable concerns in relation to the potential for a children’s burial ground within the site.
"In this context the board considers that it would be premature to grant permission for the proposed development prior to establishing whether there is a children’s burial ground located within the site and the extent of any such burial ground," it said.
MWB Two Ltd said it is disappointed with the decision.
"The objection to the concept of building on a burial ground expressed by survivor groups and others is fully understood by the developer,” said a spokesperson.
“However, as MWB Two Ltd has previously said, experts in the areas of archaeological conservation and heritage found no evidence to suggest that its proposed development site contains any undocumented burials associated with the former mother and baby home.
“Furthermore, MWB Two Ltd believes that the identification of a burial ground on its land based on a single interpretation of old Ordnance Survey Ireland records is erroneous.”
Cork South Central Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire welcomed the decision and said the residential development should never have been proposed in the first place.
He praised survivor groups and their advocates and said he was glad that their views had been listened to.
“Many families are still seeking answers on where their loved ones are buried," he said.
"I hope that the announcement is just the first step in getting these answers, and I would urge the minister (for children) to ensure that a thorough investigation of the grounds of Bessborough takes place.
“The department needs to move on legislation to progress protection not only of Bessborough, but all mother and baby homes, and I would urge the city council to step in to protect the site against further applications.”
Labour Party representative for the area, Peter Horgan, described the decision as a victory for the survivors and relatives of those associated with Bessborough.
“This decision must be a watchword for the other application currently before Bord Pleanála and any applications that may be before the local authority. We need the Burials Bill to be progressed by the Oireachtas and we need a period of reflection for Bessborough,” he said.
Bessborough was run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary from 1922 until 1999.
Some 9,768 mothers entered the home and 8,938 children were born or reared there over the years. Of those children, 923 died while at or in the care of Bessborough.
The commission found that the congregation failed to keep proper burial records for the vast majority of those infants, with burial records being found for just 64.
In its final report, the commission said it was “highly likely” that burials did take place in the grounds of Bessborough.
It also said it found it “very hard to believe that there is no one in that congregation who does not have some knowledge of the burial places of the children”.