Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments about excavation of the site of the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork were “beneath contempt”, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has said.Calls have been made for a compulsory purchase order (CPO) on the site for which planning permission to build apartments has been granted, following claims that almost 900 children and women had been buried in the grounds.“The Government knows that 859 children and 19 women who were incarcerated at Bessborough are missing, presumed dead,” Cairns said.The State also knew the Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes had stated it was “highly likely that burials had taken place on this land”, she added.But the Taoiseach accused the Social Democrats leader of ignoring the perspectives of others, including those whose children died at Bessborough. He also claimed she habitually “distorted” and “conflated” his remarks. The Cork South-West TD quoted the Taoiseach’s remarks to the Dáil on Tuesday when he said: “Excavation without evidence of location is neither feasible nor lawful under the Institutional Burials Act 2022. “The Government can only [start an excavation] where it is satisfied that burials have taken place and there is evidence that those burials are manifestly inappropriate.”He also said the legal threshold “cannot currently be met” because the location of many burials “remains unknown”.Cairns said: “It has all the evidence of abuse, suspicious deaths, disappeared women and children and likely burial, and you are telling us you are powerless to act. This really is beneath contempt.”She said Martin should be “moving heaven and earth to find these children and 19 women who disappeared”.Cork City Council twice backed a CPO, most recently on Monday, voting unanimously to do so, she said. Martin told her others had different perspectives, citing the founder of the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance (CSSA) Maureen Considine.The CSSA wanted to find out where the babies were buried and had made legal submissions. “They do not believe that the current area of lands, which is the subject matter of the current An Bord Pleanála recommendation, is where the babies are buried,” he said.Martin added that the planning permission for housing is not for the entirety of the 60 acres. There are two other lots of land, he said, with State services located on part of them.Cairns said they had necessary information for Tuam and Sean Ross Abbey burial grounds but not for Bessborough because the records were closed or sealed.They could not find out why the commission of investigation believed it likely babies were buried on the grounds or what the recommendations were of archaeologists who walked the land. She said no ground penetrating radar was used and likely no soil samples or test excavations. She claimed this was “by design”.