Large-Scale Residential Development at the site of the former Mother and Baby institution at Bessborough (Planning Ref. 25/4442)

17th April 2026: Collation of Submissions from Survivors and Affected people
On 17th April 2026, the Clann Project submitted a collation of 156 observations from survivors and affected people to An Coimisiún Pleanála, objecting to the proposed development at the site of the former Mother and Baby Institution at Bessborough. These observations reflect a shared conviction that the proposed development is wholly inappropriate, given the unresolved questions surrounding the burial locations of mothers and infants who died at Bessborough. There is deep concern among affected people and their families that the land has not yet been subject to a sufficiently comprehensive investigation. Full details of this initiative, including our methodology, are available in our cover letter to An Coimisiún Pleanála here.

20th March 2026: Clann Project Submission in Support of the Appeal by Bessboro Mother and Baby Home Support Group
On 20th March 2026, the Clann Project along with academic colleagues made a submission to An Coimisiún Pleanála  in support of the appeal by Bessboro Mother and Baby Home Support Group against the grant by Cork City Council to Estuary View Enterprises 2020 Limited on 24th February 2026 of Conditional Permission for a Large-Scale Residential Development at a site located at Bessborough, Ballinure, Blackrock, Cork (Planning Ref. 25/4442).

Authors:
Dr Maeve O’Rourke; Dr Claire McGettrick, born Lorraine Hughes; Professor Katherine O’Donnell; Professor Máiréad Enright; Dr James Gallen; Professor James M Smith.

The submission can be downloaded here. It makes the following arguments, among others:

1. The State is aware of a situation of mass disappearance and the probability that some of the disappeared are buried in the grounds of Bessborough Mother and Baby institution. An Bord Pleanála and An Coimisiún Pleanála have refused planning permission for this site numerous times since May 2021 due to the lack of clarity regarding the whereabouts of 878 children and mothers (in total) who were confined in Bessborough.
2. The State is obliged under the ECHR to investigate the deaths of children and mothers who were confined in Bessborough, and to ascertain the whereabouts of the disappeared and return their remains to relatives. The EU CFR protects the equivalent rights which, according to the ECtHR, give rise to these obligations. These obligations are reinforced by international human rights law sources and standards, including as interpreted by eight United Nations Human Rights Council-appointed Special Procedures directly in relation to the deaths and disappearances of individuals previously confined in Ireland’s Mother and Baby institutions. Irish Constitutional caselaw supports the existence of these obligations, also.
3. The State has not complied with its European human rights law obligations in respect of the deaths and disappearances of children and women who were confined in Bessborough Mother and Baby institution. The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation (MBHCOI) proceeded in private and offered no opportunity to bereaved mothers or relatives to see or comment on, or suggest lines of inquiry further to, the evidence it received and considered. The MBHCOI did not publish its archaeological assessment of the grounds at Bessborough; it kept its entire archive relating to Bessborough confidential from bereaved mothers and relatives. The MBHCOI’s archive remains inaccessible to affected people and the public, and neither An Coimisiún Pleanála nor the members of Cork City Council have access to the documents and other evidence underlying the MBHCOI’s observations and conclusions. Furthermore, the MBHCOI did not use all reasonable means to search for the disappeared children and women of Bessborough: it did not undertake geophysical surveys and there is no indication in its Reports that it undertook test excavations or soil chemistry or decomposition analysis. The State has not established any other investigation into the disappeared children and mothers of Bessborough.
4. An Coimisiún Pleanála is obliged to uphold the State’s European human rights law obligations, which cannot be displaced or delegated by way of conditions on a grant of planning permission to a private property developer.