18/03/2026
I leant today a new word: marasmus. It means death by withering away, neglect, lack of food. In 1943, the infant mortality rate in Bessborough mother & baby institution, Co. Cork, was 75%, much of which was labelled as maramus. Today, survivors are protesting as insult is being added to injury: Bessborough is being handed over to private developers. An estimated 923 babies & children are thought to be buried there, of which only 64 have known graves. It is a cemetery, a site of cultural significance and national shame that should not be sold to the highest bidder. My own m&b institution in Dublin has been bulldozed. It's another form of silencing that shows the lessons of the past have not been learned, and the state apology was just lip service.
Please consider writing to your TDs to intervene.