A "Children's Burial Ground" marked on a 1957 Ordnance Survey map of the Bessborough estate in Blackrock, Cork, is not on either of the State's official records of archaeological monuments, the Department of Housing has confirmed.
Asked by LocalNews whether the plot, south-east of Bessborough House, appears in the Sites and Monuments Record or the Record of Monuments and Places, the department said it "is not on" either.
Recorded monuments are protected under the National Monuments Acts. Anyone planning work at or near one must give the National Monuments Service two months' notice. A place that isn't on the record doesn't get that automatic step.
Why it matters now
More than 900 children died at Bessborough, or in hospital after being moved from there, according to the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. The Commission established the burial places of only 64. It said it was likely that some children were buried on the grounds, but it did not consider excavating the whole estate feasible.
Planning permission for 106 apartments on another part of the estate, the old farmyard, is now in place and is being challenged in the High Court. The planning inspector's report noted the 1957 "Children's Burial Ground" and placed it some distance from the apartment site.
The burial records the State wants unsealed
The Department of Children, Disability and Equality has told LocalNews more about the High Court application the Government approved last month.
The Commission's archive is confidential under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, and nothing in it can be published "unless otherwise directed by a court". The Minister is seeking that direction for "technical, factual documents relating to burials" at Bessborough. They include:
- high-resolution Air Corps photographs of Bessborough from 1951;
- site survey documentation;
- the Commission's cartographic and landscape assessments of possible unrecorded burial sites, carried out by forensic archaeologists.
The department said officials from the Department, the Office of the Attorney General and the Chief State Solicitor's Office "are coordinating on the work required to make" the application. That indicates it had not yet been lodged when the department replied on 4 November.
Witness evidence won't be included. The department said that even anonymised, it could risk identifying people who gave evidence in private on the understanding that their confidentiality would be respected.
Why there's no excavation
The department said that under section 7 of the Institutional Burials Act 2022, the Government must be satisfied that burials took place, and must have evidence that they are "manifestly inappropriate", before an excavation can be ordered. At Bessborough, it said, "the location of burials is, sadly, unknown".
The apartments and the court case
An Coimisiún Pleanála granted permission in July 2026 (case 324153) to Estuary View Enterprises 2020 Limited. The company had applied for 140 apartments; the Commission removed one block to protect the historic landscape, bringing it down to 106. The decision was split two to one.
The Commission said that "from the available information there is no evidence that there are unrecorded burials in the area proposed". It also accepted that the burial history of the lands is incomplete because of poor record-keeping. Campaigners dispute that there is no evidence. The permission requires a forensic archaeologist and an osteo-anthropologist to monitor the excavation work. Under the developer's method statement, work stops and the Cork City Coroner is told immediately if human remains are found.
Earlier schemes were refused. In 2024, An Bord Pleanála said "potential exists for the presence of human remains and/or burials" and that granting permission was premature until the extent of any burials was known.
In late August, campaigners lodged judicial review proceedings in the High Court against An Coimisiún Pleanála, the State and the Attorney General. The case was listed for 21 September. LocalNews could find no published update on it since then.
The talks over the site
In July, Cork City Council unanimously backed a motion to begin a process with Government departments to compulsorily purchase the whole site for a public park and memorial. In September, the Taoiseach confirmed that mediators had been appointed between the council and the two landowners. The council has said it won't comment while that process is under way.
An online petition against the development had passed 16,000 signatures by September, the Irish Examiner reported. Campaigners now put it at about 17,000.
LocalNews has also asked An Coimisiún Pleanála and Cork City Council about the case and the talks, and will update this article when they reply.
If you have information about Bessborough's burial records, contact Sinéad: sinead@localnews.ie