Mothers and children forced to sleep in 'unheated lofts above stables'

(Above) The site of the former mother and baby home in Castlepollard.

The mother and baby home in Castlepollard was “grossly overcrowded” for much of the first 20 years it was in operation and women and children were forced to sleep in “unheated lofts above stables”, while in 1940 the infant mortality rate - the percentage of deaths in the first year of life of babies born to mothers in the home - was 26%.

That's according to the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, which was published today.

The commission found that the mother and baby home in Castlepollard, which was run by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary between 1935 and 1971, was “grossly overcrowded” from 1937 until the early 1950s.

“By 1941, women and their older children were sleeping in unheated lofts above the stables some distance from the main house. There was one toilet for 44 women and no space to store clothing or personal belongings. Women had no space for recreation and there was no space in the nurseries for children to play,” the report states.

Overcrowding is believed to have been a major factor in the high infant mortality rate in the home during much of the 1940s. In total, 247 children died in the home in Castlepollard. Sixty per cent of the deaths occurred in the 1940s.

“The peak year was 1940 [when the infant mortality rate was 26%] when the home was grossly overcrowded; mortality was also high in the years 1944-47 but it fell sharply thereafter,” the report states.

A maternity unit was opened in the home in 1942, which included accommodation for mothers and children. The commission found that while central heating was installed in the unit, it “was not used for some years because the home, which had its own generator, was supplying electricity to the town of Castlepollard. The town generating station was destroyed in 1941; this continued until 1948”.

In total, 4,972 women spent time at the mother and baby home in Castlepollard, while 4,559 children were born there. The average length of stay between 1947 and 1959 was 304 days.

See next week's edition for full coverage of the report and reaction.