Work begins today on a forensic excavation of the site of a former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway.

It's believed nearly 800 babies and children were buried on the grounds of the former maternity home, however, their deaths weren't registered with authorities.

It’s over 10 years since local historian Catherine Corless made the discovery of records for 796 children who died in the home, but had no burial plot.

An excavation of the site, carried out in 2017, found evidence of human remains.

Tuam mother and baby homes, © PA Archive/PA Images

The children are believed to have died during the time the home was operated by the Bon Secours Sisters, between 1925 and 1961.

Consultant Forensic Archaeologist, Dr Niamh McCullagh, led the Forensic Investigation team on behalf of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Investigation, which published its report in 2018.

Breeda Murphy, from the Tuam Mother and Baby Home Alliance, said they've been waiting a long time for the full excavation work to begin.

"I thought in 2016 and 2017 when Dr Niamh McCullough entered the site to conduct test excavations, and we remember Minister Katherine Zappone standing and saying that she was immensely shocked.

"What I expected at that stage, and what Dr Niamh McCullough expected, was that the site would be investigated again within a six month period.

"So we're way down the line on that, eight years on."

3BPA8TX Excavation workers seen during the media briefing, ahead of the excavation at St Mary's home for unmarried mothers and their children which was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a religious order of Catholic nuns in Tuam in Co Galway. The excavation will try to identify the remains of infants who died at the home between 1925 and 1961. Picture date: Monday July 7, 2025.

Preparations at the site and pre-excavation work began last month.

International experts from Columbia, Spain, Canada, the UK and the US have been brought in to help with the excavation.

It would be Ireland’s first mass exhumation and is expected to take two years to complete.