At least 9,000 children have died in homes run by the Irish Roman Catholic Church. Research on the high mortality rate among babies shows that unmarried mothers were victims of “a stifling, oppressive and misogynist culture” for decades.
The three-thousand-page report on the so-called mother and baby houses was published on Tuesday. About 15 percent of all children who stayed in these homes have died. The report speaks of “infant mortality at a terrible level”. The exact cause of death of the children has not been determined by the researchers.
Irish Youth Minister Roderic O’Gorman said the government will apologize to the thousands of women and children who have been victims of the practices. They can look forward to financial compensation
In addition, legislation will be pursued to support the search, exhumation and where possible identification of human remains in Irish mass graves. Thousands of bodies of deceased children, including newborn babies, were buried in such graves.
The case came to light in 2014, when hundreds of child bodies were discovered in a yard that housed a Catholic home for unmarried mothers until 1961.
No evidence has been found for forced foreign adoptions. Irish adoption agencies allegedly received large sums to organize the adoptions of 1,638 children, according to previous charges. Most of these children ended up in the United States.
Irish Roman Catholic Church apologizes
The head of the Irish Roman Catholic Church unreservedly apologized to survivors of the church-run homes on Tuesday evening.
“To the survivors and anyone personally involved in this reality that has come to light, I offer my unreserved apologies,” Archbishop Eamon Martin said in a statement.
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