More human remains recovered during excavation of former Tuam Mother & Baby Home

Nine further sets of human remains have been recovered during the ongoing forensic excavation at the site of the former Mother and Baby Institution in Tuam, Co Galway.

Two sets of remains were recovered in one area of the site, while another seven sets of human remains were recovered in a separate area of the site, the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT) said in an update following its latest reporting period, September 25 - October 29.

These newly recovered sets of human remains bring the total 

14 sets of human remains have now been recovered from the Tuam site since work began over the summer.

The two sets of remains recovered in the same area during the current reporting period bring the total to seven sets of historic, skeletal human remains consistent with the Workhouse era (1841 - 1918), ODAIT said.

In accordance with agreed provisions, ODAIT is cooperating with the National Museum of Ireland, the authority responsible for historic human remains, which are outside ODAIT’s mandate.

Initial assessment of the other seven sets of human remains newly recovered in a separate area, in a location adjacent to the underground vaulted structures, indicates that these skeletal remains belong to infants.

A full analysis will be carried out of these seven sets to estimate age at death, ODAIT said, adding that it is "currently undetermined which era these human remains are from."

Analysis to determine their era of origin is expected to take at least three months to complete, and the results will be published in a technical update once received.

ODAIT's Update on the Identification Programme

ODAIT further said in its latest update that its Director is now proceeding with the Identification Programme.

Accordingly, in the coming weeks, ODAIT will contact those who, since May 2023, expressed an interest in providing a DNA sample. ODAIT said it will explain the Identification Programme, the Application Process, and Determination of Eligibility, and will support each applicant through the process

"Anyone who believes they are related to someone buried at the Tuam site who has not yet contacted ODAIT is invited to do so," ODAIT said. "They will be assisted through the Application Process and Determination of Eligibility, which may take a number of weeks.  Once determined eligible in accordance with the Act, a DNA sample will then be taken."

More information about the ID Programme is available online here at ODAIT.ie.

About the Tuam Mother and Baby Home in Co Galway

The Tuam Mother and Baby Home was an institution for unmarried mothers and their children. Run by the Bon Secours Sisters, it operated from 1925 to 1961.

In 2014, local amateur historian Catherine Corless was researching the Tuam Home's history when she discovered records showing that 796 children had died at the Home, but burial records could not be found, sparking suspicion of a mass grave at the site.

“Significant quantities” of human remains were discovered at the site in 2016 and 2017.

In January 2021, nearly six years after the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was launched, the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes was published.

Including the Tuam Home, the Commission investigated 18 homes across Ireland, ultimately finding that "a total of about 9,000 children died in the institutions under investigation - about 15% of all the children who were in the institutions."

The report later states: "There is no single explanation for the appalling level of infant mortality in Irish mother and baby homes."

The report says that "a particular catalyst" for the formation of the investigative Commission "was the discovery by Catherine Corless of the possible burial arrangements for children who died in the Tuam Children’s Home."

Following the publication of the report, the Irish Government offered a formal apology to victims, survivors, and their relatives.

In November 2021, the Irish Government published its Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. Part of the plan was a commitment to "advance burials legislation to support the excavation, exhumation and, where possible, identification of remains, and their dignified reburial."

In July 2022, the Institutional Burials Act became law, allowing exhumations to take place at former Mother and Baby Homes across Ireland. The Irish Government established ODAIT as part of the Act that October, and in May 2023, Daniel MacSweeney was tasked with overseeing the excavations of children's remains at the site at Tuam.

Pre-excavation works began at the Tuam site in June 2025, and the excavation commenced on July 14.

The excavations, which are expected to take 24 months to complete, continue.