Homes for unmarried mothers and their children in Ireland (Mother and Baby Homes)
From 1922 to 1998 around 56,000 unmarried mothers and 57,000 children in Ireland went into homes for unmarried mothers, many of them run by Catholic religious orders; the youngest mothers were 12 years old. About 9,000 children died there, around 15 percent; before 1960, according to the commission of investigation, the homes actually reduced the children's chances of survival. Many women were belittled and humiliated, and they were shown little kindness at childbirth. The commission sees the main responsibility for the harsh treatment with the fathers of the children and the families of the women, supported and condoned by State and churches.
Deaths
about 9,000 children(counted, deaths, around 15% of all children in the homes investigated 1922 to 1998, run by the Church and the State alike)Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy
„A total of about 9,000 children died in the institutions under investigation - about 15% of all the children who were in the institutions“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. Original
Period
1922-1998 (76 years)
Report published
12 January 2021
Country
Ireland
Institutions
Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Bessborough, Sean Ross, Castlepollard) Bon Secours Sisters (Tuam) Irish health authorities
Site of the burial ground at the former Mother and Baby Home of the Bon Secours Sisters in Tuam, County Galway
Image: AugusteBlanqui,
CC BY-SA 4.0,
Source
What happened to the people
Who was affected? Victims and numbers
About 56,000 unmarried mothers and 57,000 children lived in the homes investigated; most admissions were in the 1960s and early 1970s. The proportion of unmarried mothers who went into such homes was probably the highest in the world in Ireland.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 1
„There were about 56,000 unmarried mothers and about 57,000 children in the mother and baby homes and county homes investigated by the Commission“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 1.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 1
„the proportion of Irish unmarried mothers who were admitted to mother and baby homes or county homes in the twentieth century was probably the highest in the world“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 1.
Original
The women were between 12 and over 40 years old; 5,616 of them were under 18. The commission did not find evidence that the police were regularly informed of pregnancies of minors.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 2
„The women who were admitted to mother and baby homes ranged in age from 12 years old to women in their forties“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 2.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 2
„5,616 women, 11.4% of the total for whom information about their age is available, were under 18 years of age. The Commission has not seen evidence that the Gardaí were routinely notified about pregnancies in under-age women“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 2.
Original
How were they charged and sentenced?
Only the local authority could bring criminal proceedings for breaches of the 1934 Act, and penalties were usually small. No proceedings were ever brought against any mother and baby home.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 28, S. 9
„The power to initiate prosecutions for infringements of the 1934 Act rested with the local authority and the penalties were generally light. (No mother and baby home was ever prosecuted).“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 28, S. 9.
Original
What happened to those affected?
About 9,000 children died in the homes. In 1945/46 infant mortality there was almost twice the national average for children born outside marriage. According to the commission, before 1960 the homes did not save lives but reduced the children's chances of survival; the high mortality was known to the authorities.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 12
„in the years 1945-46, the death rate among infants in mother and baby homes was almost twice that of the national average for ‘illegitimate’ children“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 12.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 12
„In the years before 1960 mother and baby homes did not save the lives of ‘illegitimate’ children; in fact, they appear to have significantly reduced their prospects of survival. The very high mortality rates were known to local and national authorities at the time“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 12.
Original
Many women were emotionally abused, belittled and subjected to disparaging remarks; especially at childbirth they were shown hardly any kindness. Until the 1970s there were neither social workers nor counselling.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 16
„Many of the women did suffer emotional abuse and were often subject to denigration and derogatory remarks. It appears that there was little kindness shown to them and this was particularly the case when they were giving birth“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 16.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 16
„There were no qualified social workers, or counsellors attached to these homes until at least the 1970s“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 16.
Original
Before the introduction of legal adoption in 1953, the children usually went to other institutions such as the industrial schools or to foster families; after that, adoption became the most common route.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 11
„Before the availability of legal adoption (from 1953), children who left the institutions usually ended up in other institutions such as industrial schools or were boarded out or nursed out“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 11.
Original
Background
Course of events
The commission's terms of reference cover the years 1922 to 1998.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Executive Summary
„The Commission’s Terms of Reference cover the period 1922 - 1998“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Executive Summary.
Original
Several large homes were run by religious orders, for example the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary with Bessborough, Sean Ross and Castlepollard; others belonged to the health authorities, among them the children's home in Tuam, which was run by the Bon Secours Sisters. Tuam, Kilrush and the County Homes had appalling physical conditions.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 13
„owned and run by religious orders, for example, the three homes run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary - Bessborough, Sean Ross, Castlepollard“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 13.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 14
„County homes, Kilrush and Tuam had appalling physical conditions“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 14.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 23
„the Bon Secours Sisters who ran the home“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 23.
Original
Why? Justification and motives (according to the sources)
According to the commission, the Catholic Church did not invent the strict moral views on marriage and family reputation, but reinforced them through its teaching on premarital chastity.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 46
„The Catholic church did not invent Irish attitudes to prudent marriages or family respectability; however, it reinforced them through church teachings that emphasised the importance of pre-marital purity“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 46.
Original
Who received the assets, who profited?
In the children's home in Tuam the Bon Secours Sisters paid the staff from the capitation payments they received from the counties of Galway and Mayo per child; much of the work, however, was done unpaid by the mothers. In the County Homes women did heavy work for which they should have been paid.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 23
„Staff in Tuam were recruited and paid by the Sisters, from the capitation payment that they received from the Galway and Mayo local authorities, though much of the work was carried out unpaid by the mothers“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 23.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 15
„women in the county homes did arduous work for which they should have been paid“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 15.
Original
Response of the Church
The commission found no evidence that Church or State forcibly placed women in the homes; most had no other choice. It sees the main responsibility for the harsh treatment with the fathers of the children and the families of the women, supported, fostered and condoned by State and churches.
Evidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 8
„There is no evidence that women were forced to enter mother and baby homes by the church or State authorities. Most women had no alternative“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Zusammenfassung, Nr. 8.
OriginalEvidence: Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy, Einleitung
„Responsibility for that harsh treatment rests mainly with the fathers of their children and their own immediate families. It was supported by, contributed to, and condoned by, the institutions of the State and the Churches“
Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, Einleitung.
Original
Government report
Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Irland), Vorsitz Richterin Yvonne Murphy: Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, 12 January 2021.
Original(retrieved 11 Oct 2026)
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