Former minister Katherine Zappone wrote to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) to express concerns about plans to build apartments at the site of the former mother and baby home in Bessborough, in Cork. The correspondence was among several letters obtained by Patricia Casey, the special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse.Earlier this month ACP upheld planning permission for developer Estuary View Enterprises to build 106 apartments at the site. The burial place of more than 800 children who passed through the institution remains unknown. ACP said there was no evidence of unrecorded burials in the area where the development is proposed.Campaigners and survivors have sharply criticised the decision, calling on the Government to buy the land.It has now emerged that Zappone’s intervention was among more than 160 objections submitted against the proposed development. She served as minister for children from 2016 to 2020 and had responsibility for the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.Her letter, dated April 13th, said the commission of inquiry made “modest efforts” to locate burial grounds at Bessborough “but these were not sufficient or similar to the efforts made at Tuam”.More than 900 children died at Bessborough or in hospital after being transferred there from the institution, which operated from 1922 to 1998.Despite “very extensive inquiries and searches”, the commission of investigation was only able to establish the burial place of 64 children, meaning the burial places of more than 800 children remain unknown. The inquiry concluded it was likely that some of them were buried in unmarked graves.In its decision on July 9th, ACP said forensic archaeological monitoring should take place during construction and, if human remains are discovered, “full forensic controls would be applied” including stopping work.Zappone said such an approach was insufficient and could result in any remains found being damaged. “There is a great risk to destruction of human remains in any kind of archeological excavation as would be required for the burials,” she wrote.“It would seem logical to conclude flat builders/developers who are working on the site would hold even greater potential to destroy the human remains, even with the monitoring, thus potentially obliterating any kind of possibility of DNA identification.”[ Taoiseach’s remarks over Bessborough site ‘beneath contempt’, Holly Cairns saysOpens in new window ]Zappone said the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway, had been examined using ground-penetrating radar but the commission of investigation did not request thatsuch an examination be carried out in Bessborough. The commission of inquiry previously said it did not consider it feasible to excavate the full Bessborough site, which amounts to 24 hectares, or the wider 80 hectare estate, significant parts of which have already been built on.Zappone advised ACP to seek advice on the matter from Niamh McCullagh, the lead forensic archaeologist at the Tuam site.“The best way forward is for the State to order a geophysical survey. This would be the most targeted intervention. A State-commissioned geophysical survey (ground-penetrating radar, etc) could be conducted relatively quickly and non-invasively,” she wrote.Ninety-nine sets of human remains have been found at the Tuam site since last year.Casey said many people had contacted her about not knowing where there relatives were buried.“The fact that there is no definite identification of these burial grounds is a heartbreaking situation for those mothers and the wider family members of those children who died,” she said.Casey, who was born in the Bessborough institution, is among those calling for the site to be bought by the Government via a compulsory purchase order. Taoiseach Micheál Martin last week asked Cork City Council to engage with the landowners of Bessborough to explore “all options” for the future of the site.