Some 18,000 women and children went through or spent time in Bessborough. It closed in 1998. This is not just a historical wrongdoing; it is a modern one right up to today. There are people who still bear the scars and the trauma. To give a feel of it, John O'Brien died on 3 November 1922. He was ten months old. He was a young little baby, who was probably laughing and able to clap and what have you. He was the first child to die in Bessborough. Zoei Bonny died on 10 August 1994. She would have been 32 this year. She was only two days old and she was the last baby to die in Bessborough. From John to Zoei, 921 other children died on that site. I do not have the time here, unfortunately, to name each and every one of those children, but the stories of Zoei, John and all those whose lives were lost too soon cannot be erased from history. The State owes it to them to make sure that does not happen. They were not given dignity in life, but they should at least be given dignity in death. Over 923 children died. There are 64 graves. Only 64 have been found. It is hard to wrap your head around the number of children, babies and mothers who died in Bessborough. It is unbelievable. Three children died on this date, 26 March, over the years. There was John Coughlan, one month old, who died in 1923; Kieran Lennon, who was six months old and who died in 1945; and Vincent Joseph Finn, who was two days old when he died in 1959. There are no graves to visit them today to remember them and no headstones to mourn them. There is no dignity in their death. The atrocities inflicted on them in life, continue in their death. People use the phrase, "to sweep it under the carpet", about Ireland's approach to mother and baby homes throughout the 20th century. Now, instead of sweeping it under the carpet, it is going to be swept underneath apartment blocks and concrete. How can that be right? What is planned is wrong and must not go ahead. This Government must step in. The solution is to properly investigate where these babies are buried, to find their graves and to give them peace in death. We will make a submission to appeal the planning permission granted. I want to say strongly here on the Dáil record that I object to it. I object to any development on this site until all investigative means have been used to identify where every child and mother is buried. I object on behalf of Zoei and John and all of the hundreds of babies who have had their chance of dignity in life and in death robbed from them. I object on behalf of Nellie Sweetman, who was 86, when she died after decades in Bessborough, and Josephine Larkin, who was only 20 when she died of shock after extensive burns on her body. The mother and baby homes commission of investigation did not use all means necessary, and neither Cork City Council nor An Coimisiún Pleanála can see the results of the investigation. That is wrong. How can a decision be made without seeing the investigation? Planning should never have been approved, and it must now be refused. The Government should CPO this site and carry out the investigations. I attended a vigil recently and the level of upset was just indescribable. It is hard to imagine the heartbreak people had when they heard apartments were going to be built on this site. I take my final moment to thank those who have made sure that Zoei, John and every other baby in Bessborough will never be forgotten. In particular, I mention Carmel Cantwell, whose fight for William has shown what an excellent sister she is. There is a vigil there every summer. I encourage anyone to go to it to listen to the stories of the people, the mothers and the children, of Bessborough.

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