Ancient Order of Hibernians National President Sean Pender has called for a full forensic survey of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home, and that such an investigation be independently completed,
During a visit to the site, Pender met with Carmel Cantwell, an advocate for her mother and brother and an administrator of "The Bessboro Mother and Baby 'Home' Support Group."
President Pender first learned of the situation through an article about New York Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernian President Terry Meyer, herself a survivor of the home, and wanted to learn more and help tell the story of what happened.
After visiting Bessborough, and hearing firsthand the stories of those affected, Pender felt it was important to add the voice of the Ancient Order of Hibernians to this issue.
And so an AOH statement: "he Ancient Order of Hibernians calls upon the relevant Irish authorities to ensure that a full forensic survey of the Bessborough Mother and Baby Home site is independently completed, after which the grounds should be preserved as a permanent memorial to those who died and a reminder of what happened to women/girls and their children here.
As an Irish American organization, we speak with particular interest. A significant number of Irish Americans trace their origins to these institutions, having been adopted into American families from Mother and Baby Homes. For them, and for their descendants, these sites are not abstractions. They are part of their own story, and they deserve the same respect we would accord any place where family history is buried.
When credible evidence exists that human remains, particularly those of children, may be present on a site, no responsible authority should permit construction to proceed.
"A full and rigorous forensic survey of the grounds with an eye to recovery should be completed. This standard applies to ancient battlefields, archaeological sites, and to any place where the forgotten dead may lie. It must apply here.
"We say this as Americans who acknowledge that our own nation, and many others, carry unreconciled debts to those the society of the time deemed inconvenient: the poor, the disabled, the illegitimate, the forgotten. Lost graves are not an Irish phenomenon or a Catholic one. They are the silent monuments of every society that chose to look away. We cannot move forward unless we address the legacy of the past.
"What is being asked at Bessborough should not be controversial. We cannot ignore or fail these children again. Let us give the dead the dignity they were denied in life. That is a standard that knows no nationality, no religion, and no politics. It is the standard of our common humanity, and we stand fully behind it."
