Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In respect of the money, as Deputies will note, in 2018 the overall budget is €3.3 million. That is a decrease of 44% or €2.7 million on the allocation for 2017. Why is there that decrease? It is because there was an overall amount allocated to the commission to do its work, whether it was three or four years. What it has found, certainly in terms of its work in 2017, is that there is more than enough money. The Government agreed to extend the timeframe for an extra year, and in light of that agreement, the commission is scheduled to report in February 2019. The commission still has sufficient money in respect of the overall allocation for its work. We are spreading it out over a four-year period as distinct from the three-year period. That is why there is a decrease in 2018. This was agreed in formal engagement with the commission in terms of its work.

I will come back to the comment on Tuam. On Deputy Rabbitte's question on whether the work will be completed by February of 2019, that is what I have agreed with the independent commission in respect of its third interim report and its request for that one-year extension. As the Deputy is aware, the plan initially was to stagger the three reports - the history report, the investigative report and the confidential committee report of the evidence of witnesses who came before it - and that they would be sequential. The commission made a decision some time ago, however, when it put out either its first or second interim report, that it needed to put out all of those reports at the same time to provide the best possible picture. That continues to be the case. My understanding, as I said, is that its intention is to report then. That is all I can say right now because it is an independent commission.

In respect of the specific question, as the Deputy is aware, to complement its work and add to the transitional justice approach that the commission effectively is engaged in as well, a number of other things have been happening, particularly in regard to key stakeholders and survivors or people who were actually residents in the home. One of these has been to facilitate a consultative process. In terms of response to the second interim report, we are now moving towards a more representative facilitative process in which we have identified people to form a representative group to work with Mr. Gerry Kearney to take a look at the requests of the key stakeholders in terms of, for example, health and well-being supports and how to memorialise in relation to all of the mother and baby homes. That that will begin relatively soon. I have indicated as well to the people who are initiating this second consultative process that I would appreciate if they could report to me as soon as possible once they have gathered the group, taken a look at its suggestions and formed a consensus on the kinds of health and well-being supports that they would like and find useful. I have asked that this would be recommended to me for the Government to have a look at it, and this may happen prior to the commission reporting to me in 2019. It is important to say that.

I refer to what is going on in Tuam, which is narrower and distinct from the wider issues in respect of the mother and baby homes commission. We are now marking a year since the discovery, and that is what the reports are reminding us of. Since that discovery, we have put in place a process to try to respond appropriately to the terrible tragedy that was discovered and that we witnessed. We are continuing to do what we said. We are having a technical group look at the possible options for what can be done in respect of what happened in Tuam and to put that out to consultation. We have passed that over to Galway County Council. My understanding is that consultative process has various aspects to its methodology, one of which is to put out a questionnaire for people to respond to. A second one, equally valid and important, is that the group would meet whoever wanted to meet it. There was a gathering in Dublin and there will be a gathering in Galway relatively soon. It is a facilitated process. I asked that one or two of the members of the technical group be present for that so that there can be engagement. When that is completed, recommendations will come to me in respect of all of the interested stakeholders who participated in the process. We will bring that then to an interdepartmental group that my Secretary General, Mr. Fergal Lynch, has been chairing. It will examine those recommendations, ultimately come to me and I will bring them to Government. We are doing what we said we would do. I am aware of how much time is passing and I really do appreciate the feelings as a result of that. I hope it can continue at the pace that it is doing, that we will get those recommendations as soon as possible and decisions can be made.