Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The problem is urgency. The point was made. Those involved were critical of the remit of the mother and baby homes commission not being broad enough to deal with the illegal adoption issue. While it is welcome that the Minister might have the report in April, we need to be moving to implement its findings. The probe was clear in respect of the culture of silence and the prevention of survivors from being able to talk and about how it constituted further abuse. It is regrettable that we keep having piecemeal investigations, rather than doing the job comprehensively. To me, in some ways it is part of the same process of denial. Are we to be dragged kicking and screaming to deal with the matter eventually, come clean and have a full acknowledgement as a society of how the people concerned were wronged? Tragically, the longer we delay, the more the number of actual survivors will dwindle. We need to dig deeper into some of the points made about the culture of silence and undertake a comprehensive review. Again, I am keen to emphasise the urgency, particularly in dealing with the issue of illegal adoptions.

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