[2][3] The final report was published on 12 January 2021, and detailed that around 9,000 children, one in seven of those born in the 18 institutions covered by the Commission's terms of reference, had died in them between 1922 and 1998, double the rate of infant mortality in the general population.

[12] In October 2014, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, James Reilly, announced that the draft terms of reference for the inquiry had been circulated to government departments for comment.

[14][15][16] The three-person Commission comprised Judge Yvonne Murphy as Chairperson, with an international legal expert on child protection and adoption, Dr William Duncan, and historian Professor Mary E. Daly, appointed as Commissioners.

[18] The Commission also included a literature-based academic social history module, in order to establish an objective and comprehensive historical analysis of significant relevant matters.

[18] The Commission was brought into being following extensive worldwide media coverage of statements that the remains of up to 800 children had been interred in an unmarked mass grave, believed to be a disused septic tank, on the grounds of the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway.

[39] Speaking on the find in Dáil Éireann, in response to requests to widen the terms of reference of the Commission, he described the Mother and Baby Home as "a chamber of horrors.

For their trouble, we took their babies and gifted them, sold them, trafficked them, starved them, neglected them, or denied them to the point of their disappearance from our hearts, our sight, our country and, in the case of Tuam and possibly other places, from life itself.In the same debate, Bríd Smith, AAA-PBP TD, called for the Bon Secours order of nuns to be disbanded.

"[39] The Catholic Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, said that he was horrified by the confirmation that significant quantities of human remains were buried on the site of a former mother and baby home in the town.

Describing the news as "a body blow", he said he had been "greatly shocked to learn of the scale of the practice during the time in which the Bon Secours ran the mother and baby home in Tuam.

They also urged parishes to ensure that the burial sites of former residents were appropriately marked, and said that "the appalling story of life, death and adoptions related to the Mother and Baby Homes has shocked everyone in Ireland and beyond.

The team liaised with the Coroner for North Galway, the Garda Síochána, the National Monuments Services and Forensic Science Ireland, and advice was received from the International Committee for the Red Cross.

In a press release, Minister Zappone said: "We have known about the practice of incorrect registrations for many years, but it has been extremely difficult to identify and prove in individual cases because of the deliberate failure of those involved to keep records.

"[56] The scope of the Investigation and in particular its restriction to just a limited number of named homes has been criticised by, among others, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

[57] In a 2017 report, it stated that the Commission of Investigation "is narrow such that it does not cover all homes and analogous institutions [and] therefore may not address the whole spectrum of abuses perpetrated against women and girls.

[65] In December 2017, the Expert Technical Group reported to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, outlining five possible courses of action on the Tuam site.

[69] A report was published in April 2018, by Galway County Council based on qualitative and quantitative research conducted by Barbara Walshe and Catherine O'Connell.

Zappone has appointed human rights expert and Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Professor Geoffrey Shannon, to examine these issues and to report to her on his findings.

It was due to be given to survivors prior to publication, but was leaked to the Irish Independent newspaper on the weekend before, which drew strong criticism from the Minister involved, Roderic O'Gorman.

The state broadcaster, RTÉ, created a special section on its website to cover the issue, publishing over 40 news articles on the topic in the days following release.

It states: The Commission's report presents a history of our country in which many women and children were rejected, silenced and excluded; in which they were subjected to hardship; and in which their inherent human dignity was disrespected, in life and in death.

Today, as this important report is published, our thoughts are for the thousands of women and children who suffered without justification or purpose in an Ireland that thankfully has changed forever.

This institution had a particularly high infant mortality rate and current controversy surrounds the location of burials of children on the grounds and order's plans to have the lands developed.

As the Commission says plainly — "they should not have been there".The Taoiseach also promised that the apology would be followed by actions, including access to counselling and records, provision of medical cards, and a system of reparations.

[79] Catherine Connolly, Leas-Cheann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann, strongly criticised the report, saying its conclusions "bear no connection to the testimony given by the women and men that came forward."

His statement begins: "The Commission of Investigation's report reminds us of how far short Ireland fell of fulfilling the promise of our Republic, and of how, the violation of fundamental rights of our fellow citizens was condoned over an extended period of time.

As President of Ireland, I welcome the publication of the Commission's Report and the apologies offered, my thoughts must be, as they have been so often before, of the mothers and of the infants who died, with those children who survived and who continue to carry the trauma of their early lives, and beyond that the burden of being deprived of information about their birth parents; of all of those women, alive and dead, who have borne the scars of their experiences, the shame and secrecy imposed upon them, and the life-long burden for so many arising from trauma, bereavement or separation from their children.

[93][94] Catherine Corless described the Commission's response "an eye-opener" and said the process of gathering and recording witness testimony had turned out to be a "complete waste of survivors' time.

A third case taken by Mari Steed sought to quash that part of the Commission's finding that there was no evidence any child was harmed by vaccine trials carried out at the institutions.

One such call was made by Caitríona Crowe, former head of special projects at the National Archives of Ireland, who said "[The report's] conclusions are disputed, not just by survivors, but by many commentators who do not share the commission's view that Church and State were not the primary movers and operators of this vast system of incarceration and family separation.

"[101] In July 2021, a group of 25 researchers and academics announced that over the months since the publication of the original report, they had established a project to explore whether the Commission could have come to different findings, using the evidence available to it.