Ireland has begun a full-scale forensic excavation at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, where authorities believe the remains of almost 800 infants and young children lie in an unmarked mass grave. Ground was broken on 14 July after a month of preparatory works at the site, which operated as a Church-run institution for unmarried mothers between 1925 and 1961. The operation is led by the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention Tuam (ODAIT) under director Daniel MacSweeney, with senior forensic consultant Dr. Niamh McCullagh. A multinational team of archaeologists and crime-scene experts from Colombia, Spain, the UK, Canada, Australia and the United States will work across the 5,000-square-metre plot, sealed behind a 2.4-metre hoarding and guarded around the clock. Officials expect the recovery, analysis, DNA matching and re-interment of the remains to take about two years and to consume at least €9.4 million of public funds this year; the Bon Secours Sisters have pledged €2.5 million toward overall costs. Test digs in 2016-17 uncovered skeletal material in 20 underground chambers of a disused sewage tank. A government investigation later confirmed that 802 children—ranging from late-term fetuses to three-year-olds—died at the home, reflecting an infant mortality rate close to 15 % across Ireland’s network of mother-and-baby institutions, where some 9,000 children perished in total. The Tuam grave was first flagged in 2014 when local historian Catherine Corless located death certificates for 796 children but almost no burial records. Apologies followed from the Irish state in 2021 and from the Bon Secours order for their roles in the institutions. ODAIT has collected DNA from 14 relatives and is appealing for more samples; identified remains will be returned to families, while unidentified remains will be re-buried with dignity. Survivors and advocates say the dig is a critical step toward accountability and could feed into pending civil and potential criminal proceedings.