Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I express my disappointment. I refer to the excellent suite of well thought out measures put forward by Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell, and Senator Diarmuid Wilson. They are thoughtful and detailed amendments which attempt to do something vitally important in capturing our shared social history as an island. This is something I studied many years ago in America. I remember Professor Howard Zinn's book, A People's History of the United States. The work of Ms Catriona Crowe has also been mentioned. I refer to the idea of history of what was it like to be alive in a period and the pressures faced. It is not simply about looking at advertisements and historical letters but also about looking at the more difficult paperwork. I refer to what it was like to be alive and trying to live, sometimes in difficult circumstances and vulnerable situations, at different points in our histories in order that we do not just get, as sometimes seems to happen, the highlights, the major political winds, the high papers and the commercial space when the deeply personal and shared struggles of people's existence are lost.

It has been mentioned that there are major issues with identity. The issue has been and will be discussed again during the debate on the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016, but it is not the answer. It is a complementary and separate struggle from the question of identity. Great cruelties are still being inflicted by issues such as the Magdalen laundries, industrial schools and forced adoptions. In many cases, they are not crimes of the past because people are still being denied records and information. The decisions are still being hidden. It is not only about individuals, it is also about practices and-----