A five minute video portraying the scandal of the Tuam mother and baby home has received hundreds of thousands of views on Facebook.
The video, which was posted to the Facebook page of local historian Catherine Corless, presents the stories of survivors from the home and calls for justice.
Ms Corless is hoping the video, which was produced by her son, Alan, generates renewed interest in the story as she and the victims fight for justice.
"The video is to try to show the horrors of what went on in the Tuam mother and baby home," she says. "We have stories about survivors of the home: Carmel, Michael, PJ, Peter, and Walter, and we are calling for the Government to take action on what is a shameful part of our history as well as the full exhumation and reburying of bones that lie at the site."
Some of the actors in the video wear masks to convey the silent and secretive practices that took place during the period according to Ms Corless.
"The masks represent the callousness of actions that were carried out. It also represents how closed off the Church has been when confronted with these accusations."
The timing of the release of the video is poignant as Pope Francis prepares to visit Knock, a parish in the archdiocese of Tuam, but Ms Corless believes it is unlikely he will directly address the Tuam scandal after he issued an apology for the wrongs committed by the Catholic Church in terms of sexual abuse on Monday.
"I believe there is no hope of the Pope addressing Tuam [scandal] during his visit to Knock which a shame considering it is a part of the archdiocese of Tuam. My husband and myself met Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to discuss this. Although we got a good reception and he was very hospitable, we left very disappointed as he said he was powerless [to influence the situation].
"We also wrote to the Vatican asking whether Pope Francis would address Tuam [scandal] in his visit to Ireland and we received no reply. It is an awful shame because they [the Catholic Church in Ireland and Vatican] were all a part of it."
As of Wednesday morning the video has amassed more than 285,000 views.
