Catherine Corless, a historian from Tuam, Ireland, published research in 2012 detailing the history of the St. Mary’s Mother and Baby Home in Tuam. She noticed discrepancies between the number of children who died in the home and the number of burial records for them in local graveyards. She surmised that the children who were unaccounted for were buried in unconsecrated ground near the site of a septic tank on the premises of the former home (which closed in 1961). Corless’s research led the Irish government to launch an investigation into Ireland’s mother and baby homes of the 20th century.