A pensioner who survived the Tuam mother and baby home found out he had a sister two months ago, after his DNA matched her remains.
Paul Ford, 79, said he doesn’t have many memories of the home, located in County Galway in Ireland, adding that he was ‘brainwashed’ during his time there.
The institution – which was run by nuns – operated in the area between 1925 and 1961 and housed unmarried women who were pregnant, usually at the request of their families.
But it was later found that the bodies of 796 babies and young children had been disposed of in a disused sewage tank.
Nearly a decade after the horrific scandal came to light, a full excavation of the area to recover the remains has begun its preliminary stage, with the full excavation to begin next year.
Paul’s sister, Ellen, was born in 1942 and died aged two, before being buried in the mass grave. But until just two months ago, he had no idea she existed.
He told BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour: ‘I’m going to take her and going to…