The Daughters of Charity, which ran St Patrick's home in Dublin 7, has released a statement after the publication of today's report.

St Patrick's, originally known as Pelletstown and later operated as Eglinton House was run by the Daughters of Charity who were employed by the relevant local authority at the time.

"We welcome the publication of the report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes today, which deals with a very sad era in our history," it said.

"As described in the report, we the Daughters of Charity with others, provided the staffing for Pellstown/St Patricks on the Navan Road, a facility owned by the Dublin Board of Guardians and its successors, to include the Eastern Health Board (All as described in the published report).

"We want to compliment Judge Murphy and her staff for this detailed and important report, which gives a clear picture of the attitude and reaction of Irish society to many women who became pregnant out of wedlock.

"These women were isolated and shamed, without justification, and we hope that the publication of this report today will give a clearer and more complete picture of the entirety of the mother and baby homes issue in this country.

"Many of our sisters dedicated their lives to supporting these women, who arrived at the service in which the sisters were employed to have their babies in secret, with little or no support from family and wider society.

"We so wish and deeply regret that we could not have done more to ease the burden and suffering carried by these women, mostly alone, as they dealt with both a major crisis in their lives and totally unjustifiable rejection.

"Today, as this important report is published, our thoughts are for the thousands of women and children who suffered without justification or purpose in an Ireland that thankfully has changed forever.

"Most of the residents' personal records and the governance records that were generated in respect of St. Patrick's Pelletstown during its operation were in the possession of the public authority and remained with the Health Board on the closure of the Home. Any of the records that remained in the possession of the Community of the Daughters of Charity after the closure, was with the consent of the Eastern Health Board, and these were returned to HSE/Tusla in 2011 and 2014. We no longer hold any related records.

"We will now be reviewing this lengthy report in detail."