Catherine Corless, Irish historian: I’m going to be a voice for these children

I’m going to be a voice for these children


Chris Page, the BBC’s Ireland correspondent speaks to the Irish
historian Catherine Corless, who has changed history in her own
country.


When she began to research a long-closed mother and baby home
near where she lived, she encountered local resistance. But her
dogged investigation led to the discovery that hundreds of babies
and young children were buried in mass, unmarked graves inside a
disused sewage tank at the site in Tuam, Ireland.


Her work led to the discovery of the scandal of Ireland’s
historical mother and baby institutions, which housed unmarried
mothers and their babies at a time when they were ostracized by
Irish society and often their families too. An inquiry launched
by the Irish government into the network of homes concluded about
nine thousand children died in the eighteen homes investigated.


The revelation led to apologies from the Catholic Church in
Ireland, the Irish Government, the council which owned the home
in Tuam and the religious order which ran the home. The order has
also contributed millions of dollars to a compensation scheme,
and to the excavation now underway in Tuam.


Thank you to Chris Page and Chrissie McGlinchey from the BBC’s
Ireland bureau for their help in making this programme. The
Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world,
from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You
can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at
0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out
twice a week on BBC Sounds, or wherever you get your podcasts.


Presenter: Chris Page Producers: Lucy Sheppard and Chrissie
McGlinchey Editor: Nick Holland


Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the
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(Image: Catherine Corless. Credit: PA)