Liam Neeson has revealed his plans to release a film about the Tuam babies scandal.
The actor is working with Catherine Corless on the project, who famously investigated the deaths of almost 800 children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Co. Galway.
Her investigation led to the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of babies and children, who died between 1925 and 1961, on the former grounds of the home in Tuam.
Speaking on The Late Late Show on Friday night, Liam explained why he wanted to produce a film about the scandal.
The 69-year-old said: “A friend of mine, Amy Hynes, three years ago she sent this article by Dan Barry a New York Times journalist and said ‘Liam, have you read this?'”
“Hopefully, maybe in a years time, we’ll start production on this, to tell this story and show it to the world”
Liam Neeson speaks about his work with Catherine Corless to tell the story of the Tuam babies to the world.#LateLate pic.twitter.com/Nb69HLeoeV
— The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) October 15, 2021
“And then I read this article by Dan about Catherine and the discovery of the babies underground, 796 babies, who are, of course, still there in septic tanks.
“I read this, and I couldn’t find the words. I’m Irish and I was brought up a Catholic and a very strong Catholic and I was filled with emotion. I was filled with horror, and I was filled with embarrassment.
“For the first time in my life, and I’ve made some 93/94 films, I never felt this way before. I was lying on my bed, I shot up straight and I thought I’m going to do something about this. Whatever celebrity status I have in the film world, I’m going to do something,” he continued.
“I called my producer friend Jules Daly, she works with Ridley Scott, and I said ‘I’m going to send you this article, I want you to read it, we’re going to produce a film about this, we have to. Don’t ask me where the motivation is coming from, we have to do it.'”
The Ballymena native also recalled how he met Catherine Corless in Galway three years ago.
“I visited Catherine and her lovely husband, Aidan, three years ago. I spent a few hours, and I was just struck by the humility by this ordinary and extraordinary woman and her husband,” he said.
“She filled me in on this extraordinary story. So, we’re going to do this film, we have a wonderful writer on board, and I told Catherine to be patient with us as the film process can take a long time, for example, Schindler’s List took 10 years to get together until we got a script.”
“This Tuam babies film will not take 10 years, it’s three years already but we’re very near completion.”
“Hopefully maybe in a year’s time, we will start production on this to tell the story to the world,” Liam continued.
“I know the Government has published 3,000 pages which is all well and good. But the bones of these 796 babies are still in these chambers, these septic chambers, under the ground.
“All Catherine wants and all we want is for the dignity to be shown to the babies, to be identified and to be buried and getting that dignity – that’s it,” he added.
