The Sacred Heart Sisters, which operated three mother-and-baby homes in Bessborough in Cork, Castlepollard in Westmeath and Sean Ross Abbey in Tipperary, said it would “require some time to provide a definitive answer to the query”.

The religious order could not offer any details as to the number of children buried on the grounds of the homes.

They did say, however, “the only children buried on each of the sites were those children whose families weren’t in a position to take them home”.

The Order was also unable to say whether each child was individually buried in a coffin. But the Order as it was “left to deal with the burials of the children”, they would have been buried in either coffins or shrouds.

“Again it will require some time to provide a definitive answer to the question. At this time, it is probably impossible at this stage to confirm or otherwise whether the children were buried in shrouds or coffins. In light of the fact that the Congregation was left to deal with the burials of the children, we would imagine that the children were interred in shrouds or coffins,” said a statement.

Infant graveyard in Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea.

The Order was also unable to clarify whether or not all the children were baptised but said that “all children were given burials where their families were not in a position to take them home”.

The Irish Examiner revealed on Wednesday that death rates at the three homes ranged between 30%-50% of children born there between 1930 and 1945.

The Sacred Heart Sisters said all deaths which occurred at the homes had been notified to the relevant authorities and the Congregation was not, at any stage, in receipt of complaints in this regard.

It is estimated some 25,000 unmarried mothers passed through Bessborough, Castlepollard and Seán Ross Abbey.

Despite repeated calls by adoption campaigners, no full audit of adoption records held by the HSE or religious adoption agencies has ever been carried out.

In February, then children’s minister Frances Fitzgerald confirmed no such audit was planned.

Susan Lohan of the Adoption Rights Alliance hit out at the Order’s lack of information as to the numbers of children buried at the three sites.

“It’s amazing that the Order is so certain that all the women were informed that their children had died, but yet can’t answer any questions as to how many children were buried in these plots.

“Claims mothers were informed are also directly at odds with testimonials from women who went through these homes,” she said.

Ms Lohan said the nuns need to provide answers to these questions as they were effectively in loco parentis once women gave birth.

Cold case

On Thursday, the Irish Examiner reported on Tipperary woman Mary (not her real name) whose baby died while she was in Bessborough in 1960.

Through two nuns squabbling, Mary learned a dirty needle had been used on her during her labour and it was a further 31 years before the Sacred Heart nuns admitted to Mary her baby boy had died of septicaemia.

She recently spoke about how she didn’t even know there was a cemetery in Bessborough for the babies who died there until 1998. When she tried to lay a simple mark on his grave, she wasn’t allowed.

“I wasn’t aware until 16 years ago that there was a cemetery at Bessborough. Until one day, out of desperation, I knocked at the door of Bessborough, to enquire where my baby was buried. I was taken to this overgrown, what looked like a dump, small plot of land. I was not allowed to go in myself but the nun stood on the spot where she said that is where my baby is buried. I waited outside of the wall. When I asked if it was possible to place a mark over his grave, I was told that I could not under any circumstances.”