In 1975, two boys in the small Irish town of Tuam discovered what turned out to
be human remains in a playground. The authorities wrote it off as an old burial
ground from the time of the famine. 37 years later, local historian Catherine
Corless began an investigation into children born at the former Mother and Baby
Home in the area, eventually uncovering so many discrepancies that she was able
to persuade the police to investigate its grounds. What followed was the
discovery of large numbers of children’s bodies, with 802 children believed to
have died at the home during its 36 yeasrs of operation, many from causes which
it is difficult not to associate with neglect. 12 women also died there – but
that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The scandal with subsequently engulfed the island, with socking cases on both
sides of the border, involves horrors which are difficult to countenance, not
least because the practices from which they stemmed ended as recently as the
1990s. Margo Harkin’s powerful new documentary, Stolen, investigates what
happened, with women who were resident in the homes telling their stories, and
addresses the cultural issues which made it possible.
