Start Here
This page explains how the Tuam Records Project is organised, and how to read the documents and claims on this site, even if you've never looked into this subject before and even if a source document runs to hundreds or thousands of pages.
The five words that matter most on this site
| Term | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Documented fact | Something confirmed by an original record (an official report, a registry, a dated statement) that we can link to directly. |
| Official finding | A conclusion reached by a state body such as the Commission of Investigation or ODAIT, based on their own evidence-gathering. |
| Public claim | Something said in the media, in campaigning, or in commentary, which may or may not be fully supported by the documents. |
| Interpretation | A reasonable reading of the evidence where the underlying facts are not in dispute, but their meaning or significance is. |
| Unresolved question | Something the current evidence does not yet settle either way. |
How to use the archive
- Document Library: the original sources, official reports, statements, and media coverage of official updates. Each entry has a short plain-English summary above the source link.
- Timeline: a dated, sourced sequence of events, from the home's opening in 1925 to the ongoing forensic excavation.
- Claim vs Evidence: specific public claims, set directly against the exact wording of the source documents, with an evidence status for each one.
Long or technical documents
Some of the official reports referenced here run to hundreds of pages of formal, technical language. Where that's the case, we add a short plain-English note above the link to the original. That note is a summary of what the document says, not a replacement for it. The original is always linked, so you can check the summary against the source yourself.
Where we start from
We apply the same standard to every claim on this site, regardless of who it favours: state bodies, the Bon Secours Sisters, media reporting, or survivors and campaigners. See our full Methodology for how that works in practice.
Go to the Document Library