The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
A mother and baby home in Kilrush, where 180 children were born and 321 women admitted, between 1922 and 1926, is to be included as part of a nationwide commission of investigation. This inquiry follows the revelations that almost 800 babies and children died at the Bon Secours home in Tuam, while high death rates at Seán Ross Abbey in Tipperary, Bessborough in Cork and Castlepollard in Westmeath have also come to light. Plots in the three latter homes are believed to hold the remains of 3,200 babies and infants. The Kilrush mother and baby home was located on the site of Kilrush Workhouse on the Cooraclare road. The workhouse was built in 1841 and closed in the early 1920s. It was transformed into a mother and baby home in the early 1920s. The workhouse and home were operated by the Sisters of Mercy, who had been involved in the workhouse since 1875, when they sent three sisters to live …
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