The excavation of the former Mother and Baby Institution in Tuam, Co Galway, will now take place as a bill allowing it has been signed into law by the President.
Michael D Higgins signed the Institutional Burials Bill 2022 this morning, which allows the children's remains found at the site to be recovered, analysed and finally given a formal burial.
The legislation is finally being enacted five years after test excavations were carried out in November 2016.
They were undertaken following extensive research by local historian Catherine Corless, which led to the discovery of the remains in the unmarked graves.
