Dublin City Council has become the latest local authority to apologise for its role in the operation of mother-and-baby homes.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Hazel Chu offered her apologies on behalf of Dublin City Council for the running of St Patrick's Mother and Baby Home on the Navan Road.

She said the home had been set up before independence but it had been continued and the women there had been abandoned.

Ms Chu added that they had been forced to give up their children.

Earlier today Mayo County Council apologised for its role in the operation of mother-and-baby homes. 

Almost a third of all mothers admitted to the mother-and-baby home in Tuam, between 1925 and 1961, were from Co Mayo.

Capitation payments were made by the council to the Bon Secours Sisters, for the women and children sent from the county to the Tuam home, over that 36-year period.

A special meeting of the council is being held virtually this afternoon, following the publication of the final report of the Commission of Investigation last month. 

Chief Executive of the Council Peter Duggan said he wanted to express sorrow and to apologise for the role the authority had, when it came to dealing with the women and children in question.

Mr Duggan said he wanted to reaffirm the council's commitment, and its renewed determination, to assist and support those impacted by past failings.

Breeda Murphy, of the Mother and Baby Home Alliance, described the report as a "short reflection" of what had happened across the 32 counties. 

In an address to the meeting, she said that when the State came into being, the men running the country took away rights young women had for advancement. 

Ms Murphy said people had been excluded from Irish society for almost a century and acknowledgements, like that from Mayo County Council today, were an important part of the process to address that. 

She added that the commission's final report did not meet with the requirements of survivors and that it had many many gaps. 

Mayo and Galway County Councils facilitated a longer length of stay for children in Tuam than was the case elsewhere. This was as a result of a demand by the Bon Secours Sisters that they remain at the home until they were of school-going age.

The report also refers to Mayo being an "exceptional county in respect of local intrigue" connected with "boarded-out" children.

The commission said the general attitude seemed to be from the point of view of the foster parent, rather than from the viewpoint of child welfare.

Some individuals believed that they had a right to a boarded-out child, to carry out work for them.

In the late 1950s one Mayo councillor complained about the "gross abuse of the boarded-out children scheme in the mountainy parts of the county".

The councillor's concerns stemmed from an assistance officer's refusal to accept an application from a brother and sister seeking a child.

The councillor in question contacted senior officials arguing that the siblings in question "were entitled to a boarded-out child".

A proposal by Independent Councillor Christy Hyland that the Council establish a bursary for relatives of mother-and-baby home survivors was approved at this afternoon's meeting. 

The Westport based Councillor says an award of between €5,000 and €10,000 should be provided, on an annual basis, to help children who may be finding it difficult to complete their education. 

At least 3,156 women admitted to Dunboyne home

Meanwhile, Meath County Council has apologised for its role in the establishment and operation of the Dunboyne Mother and Baby Home.

The home was run by the Good Shepherd Sisters from 1955 to 1991. Meath County Council was the lead authority in the setting up of the institution.

At least 3,156 women were admitted to the home in that period according to the report from the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes which was published last month.

Records from the institution show there were 37 baby deaths associated with the home over the same period.

The Commission received very few complaints about the conditions in Dunboyne or the physical treatment of the mothers there.

However, some former residents did make complaints about the adoption process with some mother saying they felt they had no choice about adoption.

In a statement to today's local authority meeting Cathaoirleach David Gilroy said he wanted to "apologise unreservedly to the girls, young women and their babies, the survivors and those now deceased and their relatives for the pain and suffering caused while resident at the Dunboyne Mother and Baby Home".

He said the Council also recognises that it had an association with the Castlepollard Mother and Baby Home in Westmeath, which operated from 1935 to 1971.

Meath County Council met the cost of accommodating girls and women from Meath at the Castlepollard Home.

The Council noted that one of its Councillors wrote to the Department of Local Government in 1945 asking that it set up a Commission of Inquiry into conditions in Castlepollard but that this ultimately did not result in any significant change.

The Council said it wanted to apologise to the survivors and the families of those who were resident in Castlepollard.

"While the Council's apology cannot undo the past, it is acknowledgement of our deep regret that the girls and young women were failed by the State and a recognition that the Council was part of that failure," said Cathaoirleach David Gilroy.

Additional reporting: Pat McGrath, Sinéad Hussey