The Washington Post reported some horrible news on June 5, 2014, as the long-dead bodies of some 800 babies were found in a septic tank in Ireland. The septic tank was for a home that was run septic cleaning by nuns from the Bon Secours Sisters congregation between 1925 and 1961. A large number of people are now calling for some kind of accountability from the government and officials of the Catholic Church.
The final tally was a total of 796 children being secretly buried in the sewage tank of the home in Tuam, County Galway. This home is where unmarried pregnant woman were sent to give birth to their children in secret so that the county's devout Catholic image could be preserved.
Officials have been said to be "horrified" by the 800 babies found and said that it reveals a "darker past in Ireland."
The home in question where the septic tank was found was one of the numerous "mother and baby" homes across Ireland. It is said to have been similar to the Sean Ross Abbey in Tipperary, where Philomena Lee gave up her child for adoption.
That story was made in the recent Oscar-nominated film "Philomena."
Residents in the area state that they have known about the giant unmarked grave for decades. It was just this past week that a new investigation began when historian Catherine Corless began researching and realized that hundreds of children had died at the home, but only on was buried in the cemetery.
Corliss' research showed that health board records from the '40s said conditions of the home were dire and numerous children suffered from malnutrition and neglect. It was said that they children died at a rate four times higher than in the rest of Ireland.
"Many of the revelations are deeply disturbing and a Septic Services Devil - septic shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland when our children were not cherished as they should have been," Charles Flanagan, minister for children and youth affairs, said.
