The Bon Secours Sisters, who ran the mother and baby home at Tuam, have offered “profound apologies” and acknowledged that children were buried in a “disrespectful and unacceptable way”.

The order also said it did “not live up” to its Christianity when running the Co Galway facility between 1925 and 1961 on behalf of the local county council.

“We failed to respect the inherent dignity of the women and children who came to the home. We failed to offer them the compassion that they so badly needed. We were part of the system in which they suffered hardship, loneliness and terrible hurt. We acknowledge in particular that infants and children who died at the home were buried in a disrespectful and unacceptable way. For all that, we are deeply sorry,” the congregation’s area leader Sr Eileen O’Connor said.

The sisters confirmed that they would participate in any redress scheme set up in response to the report. In 2018, the Bon Secours religious congregation offered €2.5 million towards the costs of a forensic excavation at the former Tuam mother and baby home.