An apartment block could be built on a mass grave of babies and children in Cork

The government says the decision is out of their hands and was made by An Coimisiún Pleanála independently.

The Bessborough Mother and Baby home operated from 1922 until 1999 under the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes concluded that over 900 children died in the institution, only a small number of graves have been conclusively identified, leaving the whereabouts of many children's remains unknown.

Survivors themselves recall burials at the site. Terry Meyer told the Irish Examiner: “There was a little boy with me. I don’t remember children’s names, that part I don’t remember, but we saw a baby being buried, and we got the literal you-know-what beaten out of us because we were in an area we weren’t supposed to be in.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin says that according to the Institutional Burials Act of 2022, when applied to Bessborough the legal threshold cannot currently be met.

"One of the difficulties is - I am advised that - excavation of the site without evidence of location is neither feasible nor lawful," he said.

The government says there is no evidence there are burials in the area that housing has been applied for.

Earlier this year, developer Estuary View Enterprises was granted planning permission by Cork City Council to build apartments at the site.

The row has occupied the Dail for weeks, with the government urged to buy the site, and huge rows dominating the chamber.

The Labour Party along with Social Democrat leader Holly Cairns have called on the Government to Compulsory Purchase Order the land.

A legal process that allows the government to take private land or property without the owner's consent, for the public good.

In order for this to happen the state would need a masterplan for the land and will be very expensive. Many believe it would be an arduous process, however many believe if the state flagged they had such a plan it would change the conversation.

"This is so fundamentally wrong... and I don’t believe this build will go ahead. I know people will chain themselves against the gates before diggers roll in to build, to concrete over land where there are potentially hundreds of burials," Cairns told the Taoiseach, before the pair began shouting at each other over the issue.

The Taoiseach is said to be considering the idea. JOE have approached the Taoiseach's office for comment with no response.

Appeals were lodged by campaign groups and others who say the site should not be used for commercial purposes when the whereabouts of dead children who resided there are unknown.

The decision to allow the apartments was upheld by An Coimisiún Pleanála.

Derry Girls star Siobhan McSweeney has called the decision a disgrace:

"Utter disgust and dismay over Cork City Council's decision to allow apartments to be built on this site," she said.

'It's f**king disgraceful. It's really, really shameful. It perpetuates the injustices and shame that have trickled down through the generations of our great country."