Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up on the Minister's final comment. It is right that there would be exhumation of the remains of babies who did not receive a Christian burial and were buried wrongly and inappropriately on the sites of some of these mother and baby homes. As we approach the centenary of the State, we will only be able to move forward with maturity and with our heads held high as a people when we have brought about justice and redress for those babies who were voiceless and the survivors of those homes.

This committee will deal with some heavy and emotive issues in the coming months. Specifically, in regard to mother and baby homes, survivors and their children must be front and centre of our work. As politicians, it is vital that we deal always in the realm of facts and communicate always in the realm of truths. While the Government communication on the mother and baby home legislation may have been clumsy at best, and it was wrong and unfortunate that there was not more engagement and interaction with survivor groups, it is nonetheless important that the committee state clearly and double down on the fact that the legislation passed by both the Dáil and Seanad a fortnight ago did not lock up or seal away highly sensitive records and testimonies for 30 years. The legislation ensured that the records were saved and for politicians to say otherwise is inaccurate.

I have a number of questions to put to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, this afternoon. The first is what everyone in the country is waiting to hear. What is the expected timeline by which the legislative pieces required to set up tracing databases and access to records will be introduced?

Can he give assurances to adoptees that they will be granted the rightful access to birth certificates? Currently, one in five are having their applications denied. I am dealing with one case in the constituency where a lady has tracked down her mother. Her mother has consented to her birth certificate being released and made available and the red tape of the State still does not allow it. That is fundamentally wrong. This is emotional and should guide much of the work we do. She told me her birthday each year is the worst day of the year. It is a day most of us look forward to where one has a few drinks and celebrates with friends. For her, it is a day she knows she does not have an identity, as such, going back to her birthday. She cannot account for nine months of her life and that is devastating for her. That needs to be moved and corrected in legislation.

Third, in terms of supporting adoptees we have all had many conversations over the past week. Another constituent contacted me last week and said she successfully traced her birth mother in England and felt she was well-supported by the instruments of the state in Britain. As someone who has gone through this process already, she fears the Irish State may be under-resourced in terms of social workers. It is much more than a person finding out his or her birth name and surname and going home with a letter then crying in the car park after reading that letter. There is much more to it than that. There is a need for social worker support during the research stage but, more importantly, in the stages that follow. Some might be extremely supported by family and may not want that support but for those who do, it needs to be there in abundance. It is a raw situation.

I wish to speak about direct provision. I am glad it has come up in the discussion today. I grew up adjacent to Knockalisheen Accommodation Centre in Meelick so I have friends from childhood and now friends in adulthood who are there. I taught in the local school. I have legally gone guarantor for some of the families in their fight to remain in the country. Their stories are absolutely fabulous. What we have seen in the last 12 months in town halls, where certain right-wing groups hijack an agenda and go out with horrible vitriol, is not the type of direct provision I have experienced. I experience people who have come from the most genuine situations. They crave and thirst and hunger for the thing all of us want, that is, stability in their lives and a decent place to bring up their kids. They are still quite concerned and one of the biggest frustrations is that they still cannot get meaningful employment despite legislation being updated in 2018.

I will also join in what other speakers have said. I do not want to bury this idea but the suggestion that Ruhama would have a role in terms of sex-traffic workers should also be considered and, perhaps, reconsidered given its foundations are rooted in two religious orders that we have discussed already here today. It needs more in-depth thinking. I will leave it there.