Document Library

This library is being built out document by document, and each one is checked and sourced before it goes on. We would rather have ten verified entries than a hundred unverified ones. Below is the current, real set of primary and official sources. New entries are added as they are verified and catalogued.

Official records & state findings

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-001	Final Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation	Official Record	30 October 2020 (published Jan 2021)	View PDF (odait.ie)
TRP-002	Statement by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation on the Tuam test excavation	Official Statement	3 March 2017	RTÉ report carrying full statement
TRP-003	Institutional Burials Act 2022	Legislation	Signed into law July 2022	Irish Statute Book
TRP-004	Fifth Interim Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation (burials)	Official Record	15 March 2019	View PDF (odait.ie)
TRP-013	Chapter 32: Adoption, Final Report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation	Official Record	12 January 2021	gov.ie (PDF)
TRP-030	Report of the Confidential Committee to the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes (Part 4 of the Final Report)	Official Record	Testimony heard 2015–2020; report published 12 January 2021	gov.ie (official publication page)

Independent academic research

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-005	Infant Mortality in Mother and Baby Homes in 20th Century Ireland	Peer-reviewed study, Population Research and Policy Review	2024	View study (Springer / DOI)

Bon Secours & Catholic Church statements

Statements issued by the Sisters of Bon Secours, or by Catholic Church leaders, about the Tuam home and the Commission of Investigation. Each entry links to a primary source or to a contemporaneous report that carries the full wording.

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-006	Email from Terry Prone (Communications Clinic) on behalf of the Sisters of Bon Secours, responding to a French TV producer about burial claims at Tuam	Public Statement (via PR)	October 2014	The Journal (carries quoted text; Prone confirmed authorship)
TRP-007	Statement by the Sisters of Bon Secours after the Commission announced Tuam test-excavation findings	Official Statement	3 March 2017	The Journal (carries full statement)
TRP-008	Statement of the Sisters of Bon Secours upon publication of the Commission of Investigation Report (apology)	Official Statement	13 January 2021	Sisters of Bon Secours (official page); full text (Galway Bay FM)
TRP-009	Statement by Archbishop Michael Neary (Archbishop of Tuam) on the publication of the Commission of Investigation Report	Official Statement	13 January 2021	Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference
TRP-012	Statement of Archbishop Eamon Martin (Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland) on the publication of the Commission of Investigation Report	Official Statement	12 January 2021	Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference

Forensic excavation updates (ODAIT, 2025–present)

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-010	Further infant remains recovered from Tuam site (99 sets recovered to date)	Forensic Update	22 July 2026	RTÉ News
TRP-011	Forensic works begin to identify remains recovered at Tuam	Forensic Update	July 2026	The Journal
TRP-015	Technical Update 8, ODAIT's own bi-monthly report on the excavation (reporting period 1 June–15 July 2026): breaks down the 99 recovered remains as 77 infants from the Tent 1 burial area (previously reported) plus 22 coffined infants newly recovered from a separate burial area (Tent 2); reports completion of excavating a separate subterranean vaulted structure near Tent 1 (believed workhouse-era, distinct from the 2016–17 memorial-garden structure), where disarticulated bones from at least one infant were found at the base of an access chamber with no evidence they were intentionally placed there; confirms the memorial-garden area containing the 20-chamber structure examined in 2016–17 has still not been excavated	Official Forensic Report (Primary Source)	22 July 2026	ODAIT, Technical Update 8
TRP-018	Technical Update 6, reports that all 69 infant remains then recovered from the Tent 1 burial-ground area were found buried in coffins (mostly single-shouldered, painted white, occasionally holding two or three individuals); also reports a 3-metre-wide pit within the burial ground, backfilled with debris, where aerial photography indicates burials were disturbed by a mechanical digger sometime after 1977	Official Forensic Report (Primary Source)	Covers to 31 March 2026	ODAIT, Technical Update 6
TRP-024	Technical Update 7, reports 8 further coffined infants recovered from Tent 1 (bringing that area's total to 77, all coffined); also reports the start of excavation of a separate subterranean vaulted structure near Tent 1, assessed as likely part of a workhouse-era wastewater system rather than the 2016–17 memorial-garden structure; and separate, disarticulated adult and infant bones not yet linked to any specific burial	Official Forensic Report (Primary Source)	5 June 2026 (covers 1 April–31 May 2026)	ODAIT, Technical Update 7

Media coverage & corrections

The June 2014 international reporting that first broke the Tuam story is, itself, part of the documentary record, including where outlets, and even Catherine Corless's own on-the-record comments, were later corrected or clarified. These sources are catalogued so that both the original reports and the corrections can be checked side by side, per the site's methodology on tracking corrections rather than hiding them.

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-029	Irish Times interview with Catherine Corless: "Tuam mother and baby home: the trouble with the septic tank story", Corless states on record that she never used the word "dumped" and that the widely reported certainty that around 800 bodies were in the tank did not come from her	Contemporaneous Press Report	7 June 2014	The Irish Times
TRP-014	Associated Press formal correction of its 3 and 8 June 2014 Tuam reports: withdraws the claims that children at the home were denied Roman Catholic baptism and that this reflected Church teaching, after Tuam Archdiocese records showed the home had baptised over 2,000 children; also clarifies that, absent excavation, it was not then possible to know how many remains (if any) the disused septic tank contained	Official Correction (Primary Source)	20 June 2014	America Magazine (carries full AP correction text)
TRP-021	Denise McNamara, "Campaign to recognise 800 dead Tuam babies," Connacht Tribune, Corless's own earliest on-record account, more than three months before the story went international: she describes the site as a "crypt" made from a defunct septic tank, not bodies "dumped" there; also records that a local family, the Dooleys, had closed over and tended the grave with grass, shrubs, roses and a small cross	Contemporaneous Press Report	13 February 2014	Connacht Tribune
TRP-026	Michael Kelly, "The Real Scandal Behind the Tuam Home for Unwed Mothers", corroborates the AP correction and Corless's "never used the word dumped" statement independently; records that the burial ground had been "lovingly tended by local Catholic families for decades"; also names additional exaggerated headlines (Washington Times, Salon) not yet independently verified beyond this source	Newspaper/Magazine Feature	24 June 2014	Catholic World Report
TRP-022	Emer O'Toole, "Tell us the truth about the children in Galway's mass graves," The Guardian, originally published under the headline "Tell us the truth about the children dumped in Galway's mass graves"; the paper appended an editor's correction note six days later acknowledging the burial claim was unproven	Newspaper Opinion Piece, with Publisher's Correction (Primary Source)	4 June 2014; corrected 10 June 2014	The Guardian
TRP-027	"The truth behind Tuam," ABC Media Watch, a professional media-accountability broadcast tracing the "800 dumped in a septic tank" story to its origin (Irish Mail on Sunday, 25 May 2014, journalist Alison O'Reilly) and documenting how successive outlets (UK Mail Online, AP, AFP, Buzzfeed, Boston Globe, New York Daily News, ABC's own news service) dropped the hedge words at each stage; also carries a named eyewitness account, via RTÉ Radio 1, describing the site as a "crypt," not raw sewage, with remains "swaddled up" and laid on shelves rather than dumped	Media-Accountability Broadcast (Primary Transcript)	30 June 2014	ABC Media Watch (Australia)

Independent commentary & alternative theories

Not every source in this library is an official or peer-reviewed one. Public claims made by named, identifiable individuals, including claims that challenge the official record, are catalogued here on the same basis as everything else: attributed, dated, and checked against the documents available. Publisher and credentials are noted where relevant, per our methodology.

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-016	Brian Nugent, @tuambabies: A critical look at the Tuam Children's Home scandal, argues the 20-chamber structure is an "ossuary" built by Galway County Council after the Home closed, rather than a burial location from its operational period	Self-published pamphlet/book (Lulu.com)	First published 2015; author states a later edition exists	Publisher listing (Amazon/Lulu.com)
TRP-017	Broadcast interview with Brian Nugent restating the "ossuary" theory, including claims about bone articulation and a post-1968 artefact	Broadcast Interview (via Gript Media)	Published 30 July 2019	YouTube (Gript Media)
TRP-019	David Quinn, "What really happened at Tuam?", column arguing the site's 2025–26 excavation findings (coffined remains, a disturbed pit dated to after 1977) undermine the "dumped in a septic tank" narrative	Newspaper Column	17 April 2026	The Catholic Herald
TRP-020	Brian Nugent, "Review of the film Missing Children, on the Tuam Children's Home", extended written response to the 2021 RTÉ/ITV documentary, restating and elaborating the ossuary theory and disputing claims about mortality rates, burial records, forced adoption and profit	Self-published Opinion/Analysis (Indymedia Ireland)	5 December 2021	Indymedia Ireland (archived copy; the live site is frequently unreachable)
TRP-023	Brendan O'Neill, "The Tuam tank: another myth about evil Ireland", opinion column collecting and analysing the June 2014 headlines and Corless's own clarifications; also draws comparisons to media coverage of other Irish institutions (Letterfrack Industrial School, the Magdalene Laundries), which are outside this site's scope on Tuam specifically	Opinion Column	9 June 2014	Spiked
TRP-025	"Documentary to counter 'myths' about Tuam mother and baby home", reports that Eugene Jordan, a local historian (past president, Galway Archaeological and Historical Society; former chair, Galway Civic Trust; vice-chair, Moycullen Heritage), is producing a documentary disputing the "800 babies dumped in a septic tank" narrative; as of this report the documentary was unreleased and planned for later in 2026. Note: this entry catalogues a planned/in-production work, not a completed, checkable source, it will be reassessed once released	Newspaper Report on a Planned Documentary	Undated on the page; internal evidence (citing the 77-body count from Technical Update 7) places it around June 2026	The Irish Catholic

Independent inspection records

Contemporaneous inspection reports by named, identifiable officials are a distinct category of source from either official state findings or later media/opinion commentary, they are the closest thing to a first-hand, dated professional assessment made at the time, by someone with no stake in how the story would later be told.

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-028	Michael Duggan, "Home truths, mother and baby homes in Ireland," The Tablet, a detailed profile of Alice Litster, the Department of Local Government and Public Health inspector (a Church of Ireland-raised socialist and former suffragist, with no institutional stake in defending the Sisters), drawing on her 1947 inspection report on Tuam as quoted at length in the Commission's own Final Report	Newspaper Feature, Citing Primary Inspection Records	5 February 2026	The Tablet (via Association of Catholic Priests)

Broadcast documentaries & recorded testimony

Documentaries and recorded official testimony are catalogued here on the same basis as written sources: dated, attributed, and linked to where they can be watched or read in full.

ID	Title	Type	Date	Source
TRP-031	"The Missing Children," an RTÉ/ITV documentary telling the stories of survivors of the Tuam home, including contributions from Catherine Corless; the subject of Brian Nugent's written rebuttal (TRP-020)	Broadcast Documentary	7 November 2021 (ITV); 9 November 2021 (RTÉ One)	RTÉ Player
TRP-032	Oral testimony of Catherine Corless to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, during pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Certain Institutional Burials (Authorised Interventions) Bill; Corless describes her research, the 2017 findings, and the lack of exhumation since, and calls for a DNA database and full inquests	Official Oireachtas Testimony (Primary Source, transcript and recorded broadcast)	14 April 2021	Oireachtas.ie, official debate record
TRP-033	"This World: Ireland's Lost Babies," a BBC Two documentary presented by Martin Sixsmith, filmed partly at the Tuam site and featuring an interview with Catherine Corless, as part of a wider investigation into the Irish Catholic Church's role in the mother-and-baby-home adoption system, made in the wake of the 2013 film Philomena	Broadcast Documentary	17 September 2014 (BBC Two)	BBC, programme page

Categories in progress

These categories are planned but not yet populated with verified entries. Nothing will be added here until it is checked against a source.

Know of a document that should be here, or a correction to one above? See Contact & Corrections.