{"id":555694,"date":"2026-07-18T07:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555694\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:17:12","slug":"micheal-martin-backs-bid-to-bring-bessborough-site-into-state-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/555694\/","title":{"rendered":"Miche\u00e1l Martin backs bid to bring Bessborough site into State ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has asked Cork City Council to engage with the owners of the grounds of the former Bessborough mother and baby institution<\/a>, to \u201cexplore all options for the future of the site\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is understood the Government is willing to financially support Cork City Council in purchasing the Bessborough land, should its negotiations with the landowners prove successful.<\/p>\n

Survivors have called on Mr Martin to bring the 60-acre site into State ownership, and the Taoiseach said he felt a memorial park would be appropriate for the site.<\/p>\n

Mr Martin told the The Echo\u00a0that the site was of immense importance to many survivors, and that needed to be respected.<\/p>\n

\u201cBessborough is an area of important historical significance and it\u2019s a place of huge importance and connection for many, many families and people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to do the right thing for all concerned.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Martin\u2019s decision comes after Cork city councillors this week called on the State to acquire the Bessborough grounds.<\/p>\n

\n Nine of the Taoiseach\u2019s 10 Cork Oireachtas colleagues wrote to Mr Martin this week asking him to intervene<\/a>, with the tenth, Fine Gael junior minister Jerry Buttimer saying he fully supported survivors and their families.<\/p>\n

Last week An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la (ACP) substantially upheld planning permission granted in February by Cork City Council, a decision which cleared the way for the building of 106 apartments on the site of the former Bessborough mother and baby institution.<\/p>\n

That decision, which was made despite concerns that hundreds of missing children may be buried on the land, caused great distress in Cork\u2019s extended survivor community.<\/p>\n

The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary ran Bessborough as a mother and baby institution from 1922 to 1998. It was the largest such institution in Ireland and the last to cease trading.<\/p>\n

The nuns informed the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation that 923 infant deaths occurred in their care. They only kept 64 burial records, and as a result the final resting places of 859 children are unknown. The burial records of 19 women are also missing.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation found it was \u201chighly likely\u201d some of the missing children were buried on the institution\u2019s grounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has asked Cork City Council to engage with the owners of the grounds of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17670,79,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-555694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-mother-and-baby-homes","tag-cork-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555694","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=555694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}