SIPTU is supporting a march and vigil in Dublin on Wednesday, 11th June, to commemorate the 796 children who perished in the St Mary’s Mother and Child Home in Tuam, Co. Galway. The march will begin at the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, Mespil Road, Dublin 4, at 7.00 p.m. It will conclude at the gates of Dáil Eireann on Merrion Square with a candlelit vigil. At the Dáil the names of the 796 children who perished will be read out. As each name is read a child’s shoe, bib, toy or flowers will be brought up and left at the gates of the Dáil. There will also be readings of poetry and short accounts of the conditions the children endured.Justice for the buried babies Petition calling for justice for Tuam babies We, the undersigned, call for a full judicial investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 796 children, some of whose bodies may lie in a mass grave in Tuam, Co. Galway, and for this to be part of an investigation covering all institutions of ‘care’ nationwide. We understand that the children died while they were in the custody of the Bon Secours Sisters between approximately 1925 and 1961. We are concerned that evidence suggests that the mortality rate for these children was significantly higher than the national rate of infant mortality at the time. And we are shocked at reliable, contemporaneous accounts that the children were malnourished and seemingly uncared-for, when the Irish State was paying the Bon Secours to look after them. We request that the investigation begin at the earliest possible date and that the final report is made public, in full, when it is complete. We also request that any individual or organization which fails to co-operate fully, and in a timely fashion, with the investigation should be charged with the obstruction of justice. To sign the petition click here
SIPTU supports march and vigil to commemorate Tuam babies
