Forensics discover remains of another 22 infants at Irish mother and baby house of horrors site

Investigators at Ireland's infamous mother and baby house of horrors have made a grim new discovery, unearthing the remains of another 22 infants at the site where up to 800 corpses are feared to lie.

The excavation team in Tuam, County Galway, which began its painstaking work in July last year, has recovered a total of 99 bodies.

The newly discovered remains were found in coffins in an area on the south-western edge of the site, which was described in documents as a 'burial ground'.

They are now being taken to a new mortuary and laboratory in Toghermore, Tuam, where experts will clean, dry and examine the remains.

The agency carrying out the excavation, known as the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention (ODAIT), said the examination will include radiology and 3D scanning.

It will aim to 'reconstruct details of their lives and deaths', like their age and sex.

ODAIT said: 'These details may narrow the number of possible matching individuals and help to connect a skeletal individual with a name.'

Dr Niamh McCullagh, Senior Forensic consultant, told ITV News: 'To find such a high number this early in the excavation of this space specifically, indicates to us there are more in the area.

'It's significant that we have found what appears to be a burial ground and that the remains are so concentrated in that space, and we expect to find more.'

The 99 sets of remains found so far were buried in coffins and 62 people have given DNA samples to help with identifying them.

The home at Tuam first drew international attention in 2014, when local historian Catherine Corless uncovered 796 death certificates for babies and young children who died there, yet found no burial records at all. 

The institution was part of a network of houses across Ireland where pregnant unmarried women were sent to give birth during the 20th century and then were forcibly separated from their babies. 

Death records suggest on average two babies a week were dying there, many due to malnutrition and treatable illnesses. 

The institution, operated by the Bon Secours Sisters on behalf of Galway County Council, was open from 1925 until its closure in 1961.