![\"Social](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0023bca5-614.jpg\"\/)
\nSocial Democrats leader Holly Cairns called for the site to be subject to a Compulsory Purchase Order<\/p>\n
The Labour Party leader has said the decision to allow the development of the Bessborough site in Cork is “deeply disappointing” and is causing “immense distress and concern”.<\/p>\n
Last week, permission was granted for the development of 106 apartments at the former mother-and-baby home site by An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la.<\/p>\n
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the D\u00e1il, Ivana Bacik said it is “extremely distressing for everyone to hear the conditionality on the permission – that works must stop if human remains are found on the grounds,” she added.<\/p>\n
The decision was made “without access to all relevant records and without the benefit of modern technology being used to survey those grounds extensive,” Deputy Bacik said.<\/p>\n
“This is a live issue, and we still have time to do the right thing.<\/p>\n
“Imagine if we concreted over the site at Tuam before Catherine Corless had carried out her incredible work there.<\/p>\n
“Imagine what would have been lost.<\/p>\n
“We can’t allow that to happen at Bessborough,” she said, insisting that there is a “moral imperative” on the Government to act now.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin said that according to the Institutional Burials Act of 2022, when applied to Bessborough: “I am advised that the legal threshold cannot currently be met.”<\/p>\n
“One of the difficulties is – I am advised that – excavation of the site without evidence of location is neither feasible nor lawful.”<\/p>\n
\nSocial Democrats leader Holly Cairns called for the site to be subject to a Compulsory Purchase Order<\/p>\n
Decision to grant permission was ‘disgusting’<\/p>\n
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said the decision by An Coimis\u00fain Plean\u00e1la to grant planning permission was disgusting.<\/p>\n
Ms Cairns said 859 children and 19 women who were in the mother-and-baby home remain missing, presumed dead.<\/p>\n
She said the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Institutions found that it was highly likely burials did take place on the grounds.<\/p>\n
“The trauma this has caused survivors is immeasurable,” she added.<\/p>\n
Ms Cairns asked the Taoiseach if he would Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) the land.<\/p>\n
Responding, Miche\u00e1l Martin said An Coimisi\u00fan Plen\u00e1la is independent of the Government and the Oireachtas.<\/p>\n
“Some may describe its actions as disgusting, but it is independent in its planning functions,” he said.<\/p>\n
He said there is no evidence there are burials in the specific section of the site for which housing has been applied for.<\/p>\n
Ms Cairns said he hoped the Government would make a decision to CPO the land.<\/p>\n
“This is so fundamentally wrong… and I don\u2019t believe this build will go ahead. I know people will chain themselves against the gates before diggers roll in to build, to concrete over land where there are potentially hundreds of burials,” she added.<\/p>\n
Mr Marin said the Government has not been involved in the decision by the board.<\/p>\n
“Because of laws we\u2019ve passed if anything is found there, of human remains, it has to stop immediately.<\/p>\n
“All works cease immediately if human remains are discovered,” he said.<\/p>\n
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett told the D\u00e1il that, “as somebody who myself was born in a mother-and-baby home, I really find it pretty despicable that the Government hasn’t stated their intention to stop a private profit driven developer” from building on the Bessborough site.<\/p>\n
“The Government can overcome the obstacles if it wanted to,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Labour Party leader has said the decision to allow the development of the Bessborough site in Cork…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-550383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}