The Crime that is Sean Ross Abbey

Who Owns the Property that was formally called Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea in North Tipperary. 

• First, I am reminded of a famous quote by Mark Twain about honesty and lying -“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything”

When the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary decided to liquidate their massive land holdings at Sean Ross Abbey, they faced immediate public backlash over their Graves and their secret Graves full of unloved Babies & Children. 

• I shall start with The "Exclusion" Claim: In 2012 and again when putting a massive portion of the lands up for sale in February 2018, the order of Nuns explicitly stated that the sale excluded the Angels Plot Cemetery and St. Anne’s school grounds. They publicly promised that the congregation would retain ownership, maintain the graves, and guarantee perpetual access for families. 
• But in Reality;- Despite those initial assurances, as the order progressively wound down all their operations and fully exited Roscrea, the underlying ownership of the primary estate grounds—including the historic house and the plot—was transferred to the current private owner. 
• The Big Lie;- the mendacious Nuns only officially recognised a specific, fenced-in area as the "Angels Plot" cemetery. The perjurious Nuns sold off the vast agricultural fields directly wrapping around and adjacent to the official Cemetery Boundary. 
• Because those surrounding parcels of land were sold to separate private owners, they were initially excluded from the Official Government Commission of Investigation. However, when survivors later secured permission from a new landowner to run ground-penetrating radar scans, the results revealed significant soil anomalies extending far outside the official cemetery fence line. 
• Many Problems;- The deceitful Nuns effectively sold land that contains the hidden, unmarked remains of some of the 1,090 babies, plus, who died at their Institution and were dumped all over the their Lands. Criminally the mendacious Nuns kept no records of the Babies & Children they disposed of on their overgrown lands. After all these Children were according to both the equivocating Nuns and the Irish Catholic Church “spawns of the devil”.  
• So Let’s Break it Down;-Despite their public, repeated promises to keep and care for the Cemetery, the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary fully handed over ownership of the entire Sean Ross Abbey estate—including the Angels Plot burial ground—to a private businessman. 
• Who owns it now: The land containing the Angels Plot and Corville House belongs to a private individual. The wider estate is privately owned, and the main buildings currently function as an International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centre.
• Broken Promise of the Trust;-The deceitful Nuns initially used their charitable trust status to reassure the public that all the graves were safe.
• In 2012, and again during real estate listings in 2018, the deceitful Nuns issued statements insisting that the "Angels Plot" and the cemeteries were strictly excluded from any property disposal and would remain permanently under the congregation's trust for maintenance. 
• Instead of keeping that pledge, the fabricating Nuns ultimately executed a total financial and physical exit from Roscrea. They liquidated their final titles to the property, pushing the legal and moral responsibility of protecting the graves onto a private citizen and local volunteer groups. Because the scheming Nuns completely abandoned ownership, the burial site remains vulnerable to the long-term realities of private real estate.
• So in Reality;- The scheming Nuns ultimately wanted a total exit from Roscrea. They did not keep the cemetery nor Angle Plot. They sold the entire estate--including the land containing the Angels Plot—to a private businessman.
• The Nuns cannot make any decisions about building monuments, altering the land, or managing the site because they no longer legally own it. 
• The Nuns Have No Authority;- So the lying Nuns could not make any decision about building any monument on the Angle Plot because it is not really theirs. By liquidating the property, the order completely relinquished their legal authority over how the infants' burial ground is marked, remembered, or treated. 
• Let’s be Clear;- Because the land is privately owned, the very first step requires explicit, written permission from the owner. Without his consent, entering the property to build would be legally classified as civil trespass, and any structure could be removed.

-Even with the landowner's blessing, a permanent structure or monument cannot just be erected. It must go through the Official Irish planning system managed by Tipperary County Council. The site falls under the jurisdiction of the Tipperary County Council. Under Irish planning laws, a permanent memorial, statue, or wall is legally classified as "development." Building it without a Council Permit is an enforcement offence.

• The Process:- An official planning application must be submitted to Tipperary County Council. This includes detailed architectural drawings, site maps, and a fee. The public then has a statutory five-week window to view the files and submit observations or objections before the council makes a final decision.
• The Historic Monument Protection Catch;- Because Sean Ross Abbey and its immediate surroundings are heavily detailed in the National Monuments Service databases and the historic investigations, any application would face very strict rules: Tipperary County Council will automatically refer any building application on this site to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
• Risk of Disturbance: Because ground-penetrating radar has confirmed extensive soil anomalies—meaning there are likely unmarked graves outside the official fence line—Tipperary County Council will typically mandate that no ground can be broken, dug up, or concreted over without a licensed archaeologist supervising the work to ensure human remains are not accidentally disturbed.
• Why the Council?- Under Irish law, any person or group wanting to build a permanent structure on land must get permission from the local County Council. Because the former Sean Ross Abbey estate sits in County Tipperary, the Tipperary County Council is the legally designated local planning authority. The council is involved for three distinct legal reasons: 
• Under the Irish Planning and Development Acts, you cannot simply erect a stone monument, permanent statue, or memorial wall on a piece of land without a permit. The law defines "development" very broadly as carrying out any physical building or engineering works on, in, over, or under land. 
• Sean Ross Abbey Lands are a "Protected Structure” The entire Sean Ross Abbey estate is not just regular farmland; it is an area of intense historical and architectural importance.
• The main building on the estate, Corville House, is officially listed on the Tipperary County Council Record of Protected Structures under (Structure Ref: TRPS136). 
• Under Irish Heritage Laws, the "curtilage" (the surrounding grounds, lawns, and fields) of a Protected Structure is automatically protected too. 
• Tipperary County Council must strictly oversee any additions to the landscape to ensure they do not damage the setting of the historic property. 
• Protection of Unmarked Graves;- This is the most critical reason the Tipperary County Council is involved. Because the National Monuments Service and ground-penetrating radar surveys have flagged massive soil anomalies and known burial grounds across the estate, Tipperary County Council acts as a gatekeeper. 
• When a planning application is submitted for Sean Ross Abbey for the Angle Plot, Tipperary County Council does not make the choice alone. They are legally obligated to forward the plans to the State’s Archaeological Department. This process ensures that no heavy machinery digs into the grass, pours concrete, or disturbs the earth where any of the 1,090 plus children might be resting. Even on so called private lands. 
• In Ireland, planning laws apply equally to all land, regardless of whether it is owned by a private citizen, a business, a religious order, or the state. Owning private land gives you the right to live there and use it, but it does not give you the right to build whatever you want on it. The law treats private land and building projects with strict boundaries:
• Private Ownership Does Not Equal Total Freedom;- Under the Irish Planning and Development Acts, the local County Council has absolute jurisdiction over all physical structures built within its borders.
• If a private landowner decides to build a monument, a wall, or even a large garden shed on their own private lawn without Council permission, they are breaking the law.
• Tipperary County Council has the legal power to enter that private property, halt construction, and issue a court order forcing the landowner to tear the structure down at their own expense.
• Irish Law Is Even Stricter for "Protected" Sites;- If a piece of private land contains a historic graveyard or a protected historic building (like Sean Ross Abbey), the landowner's freedom is restricted even further.
• The state places a preservation designation over the private property deed.
• This means that even simple things that usually don't need permission on private land—like digging a deep trench for pipes or putting up a heavy concrete fence—become strictly illegal without Council and archaeological sign-off. This prevents a private owner from accidentally or intentionally destroying historical heritage or unmarked graves.
• Whether you are a private billionaire, a local farmer, or a survivor group, nobody can build a permanent monument on any piece of dirt in Ireland without the local Council's official permission. The law exists to protect the landscape, the community, and in the case of Sean Ross Abbey, the sacred ground where children were disposed off.
• Again, Let’s be Clear;- The Criminal Nuns have absolutely no right, no authority, and no power to give anyone permission to build a monument in the Angels Plot.
• Because they legally sold the land and fully walked away from the property, any "permission" or letter from the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary regarding building on the site would be completely worthless in the eyes of Irish Law.
• If someone approached the conniving Nuns today and asked for permission to put up a memorial plaque, a statue, or a bench at Sean Ross Abbey, or the Angle Plot, the legal reality is straightforward:
• In property law, once you sell a piece of land and sign over the deeds, your legal relationship with that property is permanently severed. The devious Nuns are now considered "third parties" or legal strangers to Sean Ross Abbey. They have no more right to dictate what happens on that grass than a random person passing by on the road.
• Something else, attempting to Build on "Nuns' Permission" is a serious Crime;- If someone went onto the Angels Plot and started pouring concrete for a monument based solely on the Nuns telling them it was okay, they would be committing civil trespass against the actual owner and illegal development under the Planning Acts.
• Reality Matters;- For decades, the crafty nuns controlled every single square inch of that ground, deciding who lived, who died, and who was buried there in secret. Today, by selling it all off to a private businessman, they have entirely removed themselves from the equation. They cannot help, they cannot hinder, and they have transferred all the legal responsibility for remembering those children onto a private citizen. Now in my opinion that is a crime.
• The Lie;- If that fabricating woman claimed she bypassed the legal channels because she had "permission and money from the fabricating Nuns," she is operating completely outside the bounds of Irish law.  Her arguments, her actions are illegitimate and her claimed permission is legally worthless: 
• You cannot give permission to alter land you do not own. The Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary permanently severed their legal ties to the property when they sold the estate.
• The Law: Under Irish property law, only the current registered landowner has the right to authorise access or alterations to the land.
• True Reality: A "permission letter" or a “Verbal understanding” from a religious order of liars that has fully exited the site has exactly the same legal value as a note from a random stranger on the street. Even if she did have the landowner's backing, erecting a permanent stone or structural monument without a formal permit is an explicit breach of the Irish Planning and Development Acts.
• The Consequences:- Corville House is officially listed Protected Structure (Ref: TRPS136), the surrounding Angels Plot is heavily protected. Any unauthorised concrete pour, foundation digging, or structural placement is legally classified as an "unauthorised development." 
• Tipperary County Council has the strict statutory power to issue an enforcement notice, mandate a complete halt to works, fine the individual, and legally force the removal of the structure. In fact, Irish courts have a history of heavily fining religious figures who try to claim that "divine purpose" exempts them from County Council planning laws.
• Interfering with a Protected, Potential Crime Scene;- Over 1,090 infants died at Sean Ross Abbey, and the vast majority have completely unaccounted-for burial locations. The state enacted the Institutional Burials Act 2022 specifically to manage, protect, and forensically excavate these historic institutional grounds.
• Ground-penetrating radar scans at Roscrea have already confirmed substantial subsurface soil anomalies stretching directly across these fields. Going onto that grass with tools or heavy stone memorials without explicit archaeological licensing from the National Monuments Service risks crushing, covering, or permanently destroying un-excavated human remains and forensic evidence.  

• It is highly revealing that the lying Nuns allegedly gave that woman money and “permission.” If true, by funding a private individual to erect a monument under the radar, the crafty Nuns gets to craft a public narrative that they are "honouring the children." In reality, they are using an unapproved third-party installation to deflect from the fact that they completely refused to pay a single cent into the government's official €800 million Redress Scheme for true Survivors.
• Finally;- The deceitful Nuns could not have given written nor verbal permissions. Who in the Nuns gave extant woman permission? You see  In the Republic of Ireland, they are registered with the Charities Regulator and Revenue under a corporate trust entity: 
• Registered Entity: Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Trust CLG (Company Limited by Guarantee).
• Charities Regulatory Authority (CRA) Number: 20016418.
• CHY Number (Tax Exempt Status): CHY7467.
• Irish Company Registration Number: 197997.
• Placing properties into trusts is standard legal practice for religious institutions. In the case of the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, these trusts are directly intertwined with their registered charities. 
• The land holdings are managed across Ireland and the UK through specific structural entities:
• The Irish Trust Structure;- In Ireland, their properties—including historic institutional lands and remaining assets—are held under a specific corporate trust vehicle: 

 

• The Entity: Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Trust CLG (Company Limited by Guarantee).
• Function: This corporate trust directly holds the titles, coordinates valuations, and handles the sale of their Irish lands. For example, the high-profile €6.85 million sale of parts of the Bessborough estate in Cork was executed and recorded directly through the financial accounts of this specific Irish trust. 

• This Structure Matters;- Survivor advocates and state negotiators point out that holding land through these distinct, overlapping trusts makes it legally complex to seize or access the wealth. Because the land is technically owned by a charitable corporate trust rather than individual Nun or a singular centralised office, the assets are legally shielded. This separation allows the order's Irish branch to report very low direct cash reserves while its overarching UK-managed trust network maintains millions in fixed property assets.
• The Criminal Trust Exit;-Before the total disposal of the campus, the land was held under the Order’s primary Irish Property Trust. When the Order wound down its physical operations at Sean Ross Abbey, they progressively liquidated the real estate assets. The sale effectively severed the legal connection between the land and the Congregation's Corporate Trusts, shifting the burden of care and access away from the Religious Order of Nuns.
• Split Ownership of Surroundings. The broader historic Sean Ross Abbey lands have been heavily subdivided over the years:
• The main house and the primary Angels Plot burial lawn belong to the private owner.
• Adjacent parcels of land—which independent radar surveys and ground scans indicate contain anomalous soil markings that could be a "natural extension" of mass infant graves—sit under entirely separate private ownership structures, which has historically complicated further official excavation.
• So you see that woman, could not have got permission from a nun or Nuns because it is and was a Trust, they could not give her permission because they have nothing to do with Sean Ross Abbey Lands. Even if the present landlord gave permission to a group to erect a forever monument in the Angle Plot that would not be enough, it is an ongoing crime scene. 
• Landlord permission alone is nowhere near enough to build a permanent monument, and the site's status as a suspected location of unmarked children’s graves introduces strict legal prohibitions.
• Any heavy foundation, concrete pour, or stone assembly that alters the landscape without a grant of planning permission is an offence under the Planning and Development Acts.

The "Crime Scene" Issue and Investigation Status;-

• Official records show that 1,090 infants died at Sean Ross Abbey, yet only a fraction have identified resting places.
• Institutional Burials Act 2022: This legislation was enacted to create an intervention framework for former mother and baby home sites. Under the law, if the government directs an intervention—or if physical remains are exposed—the Coroner and An Garda Síochána can be formally notified.
• Police Intervention: Under Section 5 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006, Gardaí have the statutory authority to designate lands a crime scene if an active investigation into unlawful deaths or illegal burials is underway. While the state has faced criticism from survivors for not actively sealing off the entire Roscrea site with police tape like a typical crime perimeter, pouring concrete or establishing permanent works over potential evidence risks the destruction of forensic material.
• Any group attempting to install a permanent monument based solely on the current owner's permission would be halted by planning enforcement, heritage laws, and the unresolved forensic questions surrounding the missing remains.

Owen Felix O’Neill