The site at Tuam has been further searched and 10 more baby remains have been uncovered, making 109 in total.

Galway, Ireland, 3 October 2026- Another ten sets of infant remains have been found at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co. Galway. The latest finds join 99 other sets of remains found since work started on the Dublin Road estate last year. The figures were announced by the state body, the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam (ODAIT) on 2 October in the latest quarterly update from the organisation, which runs the excavation. 

The latest update is the following:

The skeletons were discovered in the coffins and in an area of land that was hand-excavated by the forensic excavation team at ODAIT. The search was conducted from 16 July to 30 September, in the area identified as ‘tent 2′. With all 10 sets of remains, the Irish Times reported that evidence of coffins was found. This is consistent with previous excavation, where the office reported that the babies found in the spring were buried in coffins that have disintegrated. 

According to the ODAIT, the recovery of the remaining remains of the Mother and Baby Institution has been finished in the designated area of recovery “tent 2” and the excavation work was temporarily halted until the current tent could be dismounted and replaced by a larger tent “tent 3”. The next to be explored will be “up to and beyond” the old boundary wall of the institution’s grounds. 

Excavation to identification

But work does not end upon remains removed from ground. The forensic examination of the new remains is underway at the forensic facility and nearby village mortuary Toghermore. A skeletal element from each set of remains will also be sent to Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) by ODAIT. FSI will be comparing DNA that it has received with the DNA that ODAIT collected, and will attempt to match the remains to families. 

This is the most challenging part of the project. Identification is based on DNA of the living relatives. The task is difficult due to the children’s young age at death, the passage of time, the situation at Tuam and the possibility that only a small number of close relatives can provide samples, said ODAIT. According to ODAIT in its July update, seven more DNA reference samples were collected and sent to FSI, upping the total to 62. Already, almost 200 people have applied to provide samples. The team has also been to the United States, United Kingdom and Canada to meet families and diaspora groups. 

Expand the number of people who can donate DNA

Eligible relatives are also changing their definition under the law. However, efforts are still underway to add first cousins to the list of eligible family members in the Institutional Burials law and the officials in the Department of Children, Equality and Disability have been collaborating with the Office of the Attorney General to draft those changes. The transformation is done in a forensic way. With a first cousin, there is sufficient common DNA now to identify remains, but previously it was believed that the variation in shared DNA was too large, as the common ancestor was a grandparent instead of a parent. Some of the first cousins have already been contacted by ODAIT to be able to take samples “without delay” when the law permits. 

How the numbers have increased

It has been steadily increasing since full excavation started in July 2025. It will take two years to excavate the site. An extra 22 sets of remains were found under the white tent, making a total of 33 sets of remains found inside the red outline, in February 2026, according to ODAIT. By April, 36 of the babies’ remains had been found, raising the total to 69. A further eight sets were added in June bringing the total to 77. A second 22 sets were reported in July bringing the total to 99, and the final 10 to 109. 

The work is so difficult to understand, says ODAIT director Daniel MacSweeney. He said that the remains are being dug up to a forensic standard after the June update. He explained how some are disarticulated, that is, the skeleton parts would have been removed from their normal position. They can be displaced by groundwater or soil subsidence, and sometimes later burials occurred in the earlier workhouse graves. It could yield up to 800 people, some remains are more than three metres below the surface in 20 chambers, said ODAIT’s senior forensic archaeologist. 

What makes the site significant?

In 1925 the Bon Secours Sisters were asked by the local authority to take over the Tuam Workhouse and set up “The Home”. The County Council condemned the nuns £1 weekly each mother and child. The excavation is to determine the existence of infants who died at the house from 1925 to 1961. 

This case was a national and international scandal. It was revealed in 2017 when the site was excavated, there was evidence of juvenile remains, a result of which the state issued an apology and passed legislation to allow for the full exhumation of the site. After the public outcry against the burial of hundreds of babies on the grounds of ODAIT, ODAIT was officially set up in 2022 under the Institutional Burials Act 2022. The Bon Secours Sisters have made a previous apology and made financial donations for the excavation costs. The project involves the recovery and identification of the remains, and their reinterment in a special memorial garden on site.

References:

1. TheJournal.ie, “Further 10 sets of infant remains recovered during Tuam excavation” (2 Oct 2026): https://thejournal.ie/further-10-sets-infant-remains-recovered-tuam-excavation-mother-and-baby-home-7180588-Oct2026
2. ITV News, “Remains of further 10 infants recovered from former mother and baby home” (2 Oct 2026): https://www.itv.com/news/2026-10-02/remains-of-further-10-infants-recovered-from-former-mother-and-baby-home
3. RTÉ News, “Remains of 10 more infants recovered from Tuam site” (2 Oct 2026): https://www.rte.ie/news/2026/1002/1593784-tuam/
4. RTÉ News, “Eight sets of infant remains recovered from Tuam site” (5 Jun 2026): https://www.rte.ie/news/regional/2026/0605/1576924-tuam-mother-and-baby-home-remains/
5. The Irish Times, “Ten more sets of remains found at former mother and baby home in Tuam” (2 Oct 2026): https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/10/02/ten-more-sets-of-remains-found-at-former-mother-and-baby-home-in-tuam/
6. The Irish Times, “Further 36 infant remains recovered at Tuam mother and baby home site” (10 Apr 2026): https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2026/04/10/further-36-infant-remains-recovered-at-tuam-mother-and-baby-home-site/
7. Wikipedia, “Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Secours_Mother_and_Baby_Home
8. Ireland Live, “Tuam mother and baby home dig discovers 10 more sets of infant remains” (2 Oct 2026): https://ireland-live.ie/west/galway-live/tuam-mother-and-baby-home-9262428
9. IrishCentral, “Tuam excavation infants” (July 2026): https://www.irishcentral.com/news/tuam-excavation-infants
10. TheJournal.ie, ODAIT update on eight further infant remains (June 2026): https://www.thejournal.ie/article.php?id=7061531
11. Connacht Telegraph, “Additional 22 sets of infant remains recovered at Tuam Mother and Baby Home site” (6 Feb 2026): https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2026/02/06/additional-22-sets-of-infant-remains-recovered-at-tuam-mother-and-baby-home-site/
12. Ground News, “Further infant remains recovered from Tuam site” (July 2026): https://ground.news/article/further-infant-remains-recovered-from-tuam-site_84fe11