Campaigners will remember the children who were born and died at the mother and baby home

17:55, 25 Apr 2026Updated 17:56, 25 Apr 2026

The Bessborough Centre, Blackrock, Cork City – a former children’s home operated by the Sacred Heart nuns (Image: Provision )

Hundreds of names of babies and children will be read out at the gates of the former Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork, as protestors gather for a demonstration against the planning decision for scores of new apartments at the site.

Bessborough survivors, family members, campaigners and local representatives will protest at the gates of the site tomorrow, Sunday, April 26, at 1 pm to condemn the approved development plans for over 100 new apartments. There have been several planning applications lodged at the controversial site over the years, but the most recent proposal for large-scale residential development was approved by the City Council in February.

The mother and baby home, which is near the leafy suburb of Blackrock, closed in 1998, but the site is still a painful reminder of the trauma many Cork families experienced there. At the demonstration tomorrow, the names of the 923 infants and children who died there will be remembered.

Dublin City Councillor Noelle Brown was born at Bessborough and has been a longtime campaigner around human rights abuses in Mother and Baby Homes. The Social Democrats’ councillor said: “The decision to grant planning permission at Bessborough, where 923 children died, with only 64 burials accounted for, is a violation of those children’s rights to a respectful burial.

“It is also a failure by the State to the mothers who were incarcerated in Bessborough and forced to give birth in an environment where many children died from starvation and neglect. It does not reflect who we are as a nation and our respect for the rituals around death and burial rights.”

READ MORE: Cork County Mayor shares extraordinary story of her life, her mother and Bessborough

Campaigners continue to call for the decision to be reversed, and many want the site preserved as a memorial. Carmel Cantwell of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home Support Group said that the 60 acres at Bessborough should remain undeveloped.

She said that the more than 18,000 women and children who passed through the bother and baby home need to be remembered. “They were forgotten for so long,” she said.

Bessborough survivor Terri Harrison added: “Our heartbreak never leaves us, yet they still wish to bury our history, alongside all remains. Every single institution should have been investigated, not just Tuam. Today, we must watch yet another institution being wiped off the map. Will anyone help reveal our hidden grief?’

West Cork TD and Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said the Bessborough estate should be subject to a compulsory purchase order by the State and established as a memorial to those who suffered there. She said: “The families of the infants and children of Bessborough also deserve answers. This is not a decision that should be based on a geographical lottery.”