A heartbreaking report lays bare the grim findings that 9,000 kids died in children's homes run by Catholic Church in Ireland.
This comes the Irish Examiner revealed one nun told a mum: "God doesn't want you - you're dirt."
While another said a nun would hit her when she wet her bed.
An Irish inquiry into alarming death rates among babies at 18 institutions makes clear that unmarried mothers faced a "stifling, oppressive and brutally misogynistic culture" for decades, the country's children's minister has said.
So-called Mother and Baby homes were established between the 19th and 20th century and homed women who had become pregnant outside marriage.
It is understood that up to 9,000 children died in 18 institutions between 1922 and the closure of the last such home in 1998.
That is around 15 per cent of all those who entered the institutions, the report said.
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The homes made international headlines back in 2014 when 796 children were found buried in the grounds of a former home in Tuam, County Galway.
Some of the mums detailed the abuse they received by those who were supposed to take care of them, reported by Irish Examiner
One relayed how she began to cry when she was dropped off at one of the homes and the nun punched her in the back and said: "You're here now and you’ll be here till you get rid of that child. You’ll be here again next year, you are only a prostitute anyway."
Another recollected how "one young girl" whose child died two months after birth had asked to see where the baby had been buried, but the nuns replied that "she shouldn’t know'".
The government approved the publication of the 3,000-page report following a five-year investigation on Tuesday.
It is expected to issue a formal state apology to the many thousands of women and children affected by how the institutions operated, Minister Roderic O'Gorman said in a statement.
In the years 1945-46, the death rate among infants in mother and baby homes was almost twice that of the national average for "illegitimate" children, according to the report.
"In the years before 1960 mother and baby homes did not save the lives of 'illegitimate' children; in fact, they appear to have significantly reduced their prospects of survival, it said.
"The very high mortality rates were known to local and national authorities at the time and were recorded in official publications."
Speaking ahead of its publication on Tuesday, Mr O'Gorman said it marked "a landmark moment for the Irish state.
He said: "The Commission's investigation reveals the truth of what happened, within the walls of Mother and Baby Homes and beyond them, to many thousands of women and children.
"Importantly, it also inscribes for posterity, those journeys, those heartbreaks, those truths in the words of those who experienced them first-hand.
"The report makes clear that for decades, Ireland had a stifling, oppressive and brutally misogynistic culture, where a pervasive stigmatisation of unmarried mothers and their children robbed those individuals of their agency and sometimes their future."
The government is also expected to provide financial recognition to the specific groups identified in the report, he added.
Laws will also be drawn up to support excavation, exhumation and, where possible, identification of remains at burial sites at the homes where children as young as newborns were buried.
The mother and baby homes report has found that responsibility for the harsh treatment of unmarried mothers in Ireland lies mainly with "their own immediate families".
It states: "Women who gave birth outside marriage were subject to particularly harsh treatment.
"Responsibility for that harsh treatment rests mainly with the fathers of their children and their own immediate families.
"It was supported by, contributed to, and condoned by, the institutions of the State and the churches.
"However, it must be acknowledged that the institutions under investigation provided a refuge - a harsh refuge in some cases - when the families provided no refuge at all."
The report made 53 recommendations, surrounding issues including compensation and memorialisation.
The Government is to consider the report in the "weeks and months ahead", they said in a statement.
It will aim to develop an action plan centred on eight specific issues: A survivor-centred approach, an apology, access to personal information, archiving and databases, memorialisation, restorative recognition and dignified burial.
The Government has established a counselling support service for survivors, who were given access to it for the first time earlier on Tuesday.
The HSE National Counselling Service (NCS) is available to provide a counselling service for survivors from Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 5pm.
The Government has committed to providing compensation to some survivors.
A bespoke ex-gratia "Restorative Recognition Scheme" has been established to provide financial recognition to specific groups identified by the Commission of Investigation.
The Government has reaffirmed its commitment that people can access personal information contained within the Commission's records in line with GDPR.