'Worse than murder': Ireland's dark history of criminalisation and diabolisation of unwed mothers

Excavations have begun of an unmarked mass burial site at a former mother and baby home in western Ireland suspected of containing the remains of hundreds of infants and young children. The planned two-year probe by Irish and foreign experts in Tuam comes more than a decade after an amateur historian first uncovered evidence of a mass grave there. Oppressive and misogynistic, the institutions -- which operated nationwide, some not closing until as recently as 1998 -- represent a dark chapter in the history of once overwhelmingly Catholic and socially conservative Ireland. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Alison O'Reilly, Senior Author, Senior News Reporter at the Irish Examiner and Documentary Filmmaker.

Jul 15, 2025 - 16:00
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'Worse than murder': Ireland's dark history of criminalisation and diabolisation of unwed mothers
Excavations have begun of an unmarked mass burial site at a former mother and baby home in western Ireland suspected of containing the remains of hundreds of infants and young children. The planned two-year probe by Irish and foreign experts in Tuam comes more than a decade after an amateur historian first uncovered evidence of a mass grave there. Oppressive and misogynistic, the institutions -- which operated nationwide, some not closing until as recently as 1998 -- represent a dark chapter in the history of once overwhelmingly Catholic and socially conservative Ireland. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Alison O'Reilly, Senior Author, Senior News Reporter at the Irish Examiner and Documentary Filmmaker.

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