Liam Neeson and The Lost Children of Tuam
On the morning of October 28, 2,017 the Irish actor Liam Neeson read a story in the New York Times about the discovery of the remains of hundreds of children at a site in County Galway where 798 children had died at the Saint Mary’s Home for Mothers and Children between 1925 and 1961. Only two of the deceased children received a proper burial.
““The story of Tuam is so important and is so resonant today in terms of children and who is deemed worthy of care and who is not. It is a shattering and vital interrogation into the past that carries into our present,” according to Neeson.
Millions who read Barry’s story were moved. Neeson was one of them. He decided a movie must be made based on Barry’s reporting.
That movie, The Lost Children of Tuam, was just shown at the Galway Film Fleadh (Festival) where it won the award for Best Irish Film as voted by the audience.
“The film tells the real life story of how, whilst researching the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway, for a local historical society, history enthusiast Catherine Corless uncovered the devastating possibility that as many as 796 children had been buried in unmarked graves on the property.” The movie magazine Deadline wrote after the film’s debut not far from Tuam.
Barry didn’t “break” the story of Corless’s investigation and its aftermath – the Irish Mail did so in 2014 - but he brought the story to a worldwide audience. After that, doing nothing was never an option for Ireland once it was published.
Catherine Corless is the heart of the story. “Catherine lives simply, almost monastically. She favors practical clothing, usually black, and has never been one for a night at the pub. She doesn’t drink alcohol or eat meat. Give her a bowl of muesli at the kitchen table and she’ll be grand.,” wrote Barry. “It shows what one person can do in terms of action and Catherine Corless’ determination and passion is an inspiration,” said Neeson.
Barry, whose mother was born near Gort, not far from Tuam (which is pronounced Chewm), is the messenger who took the story beyond Ireland. And he’s an excellent writer.
He wrote how a young woman in Ireland might up as an unwed mother at the St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. “... imagine that naïve young woman from the country: impregnated by a man, sometimes a relative, who would assume little of the shame and none of the responsibility. She might flee to England, or pretend that the newborn was a married sister’s — or be shipped to the dreaded Tuam home, run by a religious order with French roots called the Congregation of Sisters of Bon Secours.”
Or why a young woman in Ireland might decide that becoming a nun was her best option. “They might have experienced a spiritual calling as a young girl, or simply desired not to be a farmer’s wife, having seen overworked mothers forever pregnant, forever fretting. A vocation offered education, safety and status, all reflected in clean, freshly pressed habits.”
Barry describes a scene in which Corless has to be convinced by her family to appear on Ireland’s heavily viewed Late Late Show. She was very reluctant to do so, afraid she’d be “accused of self-aggrandisement at the expense of dead chilren.”
“When she finished telling the story of the Tuam home on live television, the audience rose in what the host described as a very rare standing ovation. Catherine nodded, smiled slightly, tightly, and exhaled.”
That sequence of events should be a key scene in the movie, signalling that the Irish audience wanted to hear her story, that she was vindicated.
There’s no word on when The Lost Children of Tuam will open at theatres in Greater Portland. I’ll keep an eye on Coming Attractions and let you know if it’s coming to local screens.
Want to read more?
The Lost Children of Tuam
Here is the original NY Times Dan Barry story from October 28, 2017.
(NY Times has a paywall but I believe you can read this for free.)
To Find the Story of the Lost Children of Tuam I Needed a Guide NYT October 28, 2017
For the Lost Children of Tuam, a Proper Burial at Last. NYT December 14, 2022
Further infant remains uncovered at former mother-and-baby home. BBC June 5, 2026 -
The Lost Children of Tuam: First Footage of Monica Dolan. Deadline Magazine July 12, 2026
Various stories from the Irish Mirror.
Liam Neeson announces plans for a movie. Hot Press September 11, 2025
Local priest objects. Fr Brendan Kilcoyne, who served as secretary to the Archbishop of Tuam for over a decade, “We are now about to spend two years and a fortune of money excavating every single piece of human remains in an area where it was always known human remains were buried,” he said. “We are going to have this liturgy. We’re going to have this black mass in Tuam that’s going to go on for two years, constantly peddling the same line, the same black propaganda, the black legend, the whole time.”(A “black mass” is a satanic ritual or a blasphemous ceremony mocking the Christian mass.)
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Bill Gallagher 503-939-8732