The Catholic bishops are expected to discuss what happened in religious order-run mother and baby homes at their quarter meeting which is currently taking place.

The Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, has joined the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, and the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin in call for a full inquiry into what happened at those homes including why so many children died of disease in them.

Bishop Buckley told The Irish Examiner: “Like everyone else, was shocked at the revelations of last week.

“While Bessborough [another mother and baby home] was in the diocese of Cork and Ross, it was independently run by the religious congregations,” he said.

It is important however that all matters pertaining to the mother and baby homes are examined fully. I and the diocese will co-operate fully with any public inquiry.”

Meanwhile, historian Sean Lucey of Queen’s University Belfast has said that any inquiry must be widened to include all institutions in which unmarried mothers and children were kept.

Writing in The Irish Times he says 70 percent of unmarried mothers and their children ended up not in mother and baby home but in county homes, “former workhouses which were multifunctional welfare/healthcare institutions”.