9,000 children died in Ireland's brutal homes for unmarried mothers and babies run by the Catholic Church in the 20th century, damning report reveals
In total, 15 percent of the 57,000 children at the 18 institutions investigated by the Mother and Baby Home Commission died between 1922 and 1998
The report published yesterday said the homes 'provided refuge' for the mothers when they had nowhere else to turn and found that blame 'rests mainly with the fathers of their children and their own immediate families'
But the women faced appalling emotional torment at the hands of the nuns - forced to work scrubbing floors while being called 'fallen,' 'sinner', 'dirt' and 'spawn of Satan'
Commission said high death rates among infants 'probably the most disquieting feature of these institutions'