The Government has decided to set up a Commission of Investigation into mother and baby homes.

Minister for Children Charlie Flanagan said the object of the investigation would be to seek the truth, to catalogue the facts and to explain exactly what happened in mother-and-baby homes.

The inquiry will cover all mother-and-baby homes and will include an examination of any vaccine trial carried out in the homes.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dail that what has emerged about mother-baby homes across the country is a 'less than glorious episode' from the country's past.

The Government has been under pressure to establish a major inquiry following recent revelations about the deaths of almost 800 babies at a home run by the Bon Secours order in Tuam between the 1920s and the 1960s. 

There were reports that the bodies of these children were left in a mass grave, including a septic tank, which made headlines around the world.