DUBLIN The Irish government said Tuesday it would begin an investigation into allegations of neglect and criminality at so-called mother-and-baby homes over several decades.

The inquiry is expected to examine a range of issues, including high mortality rates, burial practices, child trafficking and secret vaccine trials, the government said.

The decision to mount an inquiry followed the revelation that the remains of 796 children, mainly babies, were secretly buried in a home run by the Sisters of Bon Secours in Tuam, in County Galway in the west, between 1925 and 1961.

Charlie Flanagan, Ireland's minister for children, said in a radio interview on Tuesday that it was important "that a light be shone on these dark periods." He added, "I believe that Tuam should not be looked at in isolation because over the last century we have had mother-and-baby homes right up and down the country."

The pressure for an investigation grew after widespread news media reports that the nuns had disposed of the bodies in a disused septic tank. The whereabouts of the remains are still unknown; on Tuesday, it emerged that the records from the home contain no information on the location of the children who died there, leading to renewed calls to excavate the site.

In total, an estimated 35,000 unmarried mothers passed through the 10 homes operated by religious orders from the 1920s. All but one of the homes was Roman Catholic. The Tuam home closed in 1961 but some of the institutions were still operating well into the 1980s.

Infant mortality rates in many homes were higher than the national average, reaching 50 percent during the 1930s and 1940s. Harrowing eyewitness accounts from former occupants cite instances of willful neglect, starvation, physical and mental abuse, and even torture and murder. There have also been allegations of illegal forced adoptions and the use of children for vaccine experiments in the 1960s and 1970s.

Susan Lohan of the Adoption Rights Alliance, an advocacy group, welcomed the inquiry in principle but said, "The timeliness and the scope are the two most important things here."

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission described the announcement of an inquiry as "both timely and appropriate" and called on all parties who hold records or can provide witness statements to cooperate fully.

New York Times