The bodies of nine women who died at a Tuam mother and Baby home may also be in the septic tank believed to hold the bodies of 796 children.

Catherine Corless – the local historian who first discovered the death records of the children – says her research shows nine women also died at the home during the same period. Their burial spots are currently unknown. Corless can confirm that the women died at the home between the years of 1937 to 1961 but she has not been able to find graves for the women.

Corless stresses that she cannot confirm the nine are buried with the children. “When I was getting the names of the children who died in the home ...they also gave me a list of nine adult women who died, and it stated on the certs that they died in the home in Tuam.

“Now, I can’t confirm that they were buried with the children. They died in the home during the years from 1937 to 1961, that’s all I can tell you. I have nine names and I have no idea where they are,” Corless told Newstalk.

"We believe there's nine women buried there as well, according to the records. They show nine women died and we presume that they are buried there," Martin Ward, a local involved in the campaign to erect a memorial plaque for the dead children, told the Irish Independent.