‘It gives us hope’: Cork mother and baby home survivors welcome rejection of apartments plan for site

Campaigners against a proposed 92 apartment complex on the grounds of a former mother and baby home in Cork have expressed hope that the developer will now abandon the project after it was rejected for a second time by An Bord Pleanála.
Maureen Considine of the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance said the group welcomed the decision by the planning board to reject an appeal by developer MWB Two Ltd against an earlier refusal for permission for the development on the grounds of Bessborough in Blackrock.
“I think this latest decision by An Bord Pleanála is pretty emphatic … when it says the application is ‘beyond the scope of normal planning conditions’. I think that rules out any development … so today’s decision is very welcome – I was talking to a lot of the women in the group today and one of them just said, ‘It gives us hope’,” said Ms Considine.
The decision is the latest setback in the efforts by MBW Two Ltd to build on the grounds of the former mother and baby home after an initial application to seek permission for a 179-apartment project was rejected by An Bord Pleanála in May 2022 after an oral hearing.
The planning board in its May 2022 refusal expressed concerns that the proposed 179 apartment complex would have an impact on a site that may contain the remains of babies who died at the home between 1922 and 1998 and cited the reports of a Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes in its decision.
The commission in its final report in January 2021 found that the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, which ran Bessborough, failed to keep proper burial records and the burial places of some 859 infants are unknown
But in November 2022, MWB Two Ltd submitted a revised application to Cork City Council for a smaller development on a 1.5-hectare site, consisting of two buildings ranging from five to eight storeys high and including 42 one-bedroom, 30 two-bedroom and 18 three-bedroom apartments.
The council refused planning permission for this revised apartment project in December 2022 but three months later MBI Two Ltd appealed that decision to An Bord Pleanála and MWB Two Ltd spokesman Declan Harrington expressed confidence at the time that the appeal would succeed.
Mr Harrington told The Irish Times in February 2023 that the revised apartment proposal was for a 0.5-hectare site across an internal road and away from an area that had been the source of dispute which had been marked as “Children’s Burial Ground” in a trace Ordnance Survey map from the 1950s.
But on Wednesday An Bord Pleanála in its decision noted “no new material information or evidence has been presented in this application to substantiate a different conclusion following that previous decision.”
“The Board considers that the potential exists for the presence of human remains and/or burials at this proposed development site associated with the former use of the lands as Mother and Baby Homes over the period 1922 to 1998.
“The Board considers it would therefore be premature to grant permission for this proposed development prior to establishing the extent of human remains and/or burials, if any, and that such a matter extends beyond the scope of normal planning conditions particularly having regard to the impact that this may have on the development.
MWB Two Ltd were contacted for comment.