1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Politics

Ireland: Dark Past

06:19

This browser does not support the video element.

August 20, 2014

A horrific report shook Ireland this summer. It was suggested babies that had died in a home for unwed mothers were buried in mass graves around the site.

The home was in operation up until the 1960's. Such homes were run by the Catholic church on behalf of the Irish government. Tens of thousands of unmarried mothers gave birth in them. Many of them tell of medical experiments on infants, neglect and forced adoption. Their infant mortality rate was much higher than the national average. Now the state and church are investigating what actually happened in what were called mother and baby homes.

Skip next section DW's Top Story

DW's Top Story

Skip next section More stories from DW