Beneath the ground at this peaceful spot in the town of Tuam, 135 miles (220 kilometres) west of Dublin, significant quantities of human remains have been identified.
But on Monday, excavation crews will seal off the site before beginning the search for remains next month.
It was her discovery of the unmarked mass burial site that led to an Irish Commission of Investigation into the so-called mother and baby homes.
Her research pointed to the children's likely final resting place: a disused septic tank discovered in 1975.
It was only in 2022 that legislation was passed in parliament enabling the excavation work to start at Tuam.
“It’s been a fierce battle, when I started this nobody wanted to listen, at last we are righting the wrongs,“ said Corless.
In findings published in 2021, the Commission of Investigation found “disquieting” levels of infant mortality at the institutions
After giving birth at the homes, mothers were then separated from their children, often through adoption.
The commission report concluded that 9,000 children had died in the homes across Ireland.
Homes were run in various ways -- some funded and managed by local health authorities and others by Catholic religious orders like the Bon Secours nuns who managed the Tuam home.
Analysis at the Tuam site in 2016 and 2017 identified human remains in underground cavities. A commission of investigation later concluded that they were in a disused sewage tank.
For Anna Corrigan, 70, who was in her mid-50s when she learned that her late mother gave birth in secret to two boys, John and William, in Tuam, the slow process has been “justice, Irish-style”.
'Dirty little secrets'
It described John as “a miserable emaciated child”, even though he was born healthy a year earlier.
“They prevaricate, they obfuscate, they make it difficult for people to get to the truth,“ she said.
A team was finally appointed in 2023 to lead the Tuam site excavation, tasked with recovering, memorialising and re-burying remains recovered at the site once the work starts.
“I never thought I’d see the day that we’d get over so many hurdles -- push them to finally excavating what I call the ‘pit’, not a grave,“ said Corrigan.
“I’m glad it’s starting, but if we can even find and identify a certain amount it’s not going to give us all closure,“ she said.
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