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Irish officials have started digging at the site of a former institution for unmarried mothers where an estimated 800 babies and young children were buried.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin acknowledged the distressing nature of the situation and stated that they must wait to see what will be revealed by the excavation.
Once any remains are recovered, they will be carefully examined and preserved by forensic specialists. Those that can be identified will be returned to their families, while those that cannot will be laid to rest. The entire process is projected to last for two years, according to the Associated Press.
A detailed view of the graveyard where the bodies of 796 babies were uncovered at the site of a former Catholic home for unmarried mothers and their children on the day a government-ordered inquiry into former Church-run homes for unmarried mothers is formally published, in Tuam, Ireland, Jan. 12, 2021. (Reuters/Clodagh Kilcoyne)
The sisters who ran the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home previously offered a “profound apology,” acknowledging they failed to protect the dignity of the women and children that lived there, according to the AP.
In 2021, Prime Minister Martin issued a former state apology after a report found that 9,000 children died in 18 mother-and-baby homes during the 20th century in Ireland.
Daniel MacSweeney and Ireland’s National Police and Security Service, An Garda SÃochána, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
