Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The second question relates to narrative.

The Minister, I think it is fair to say, has described the language of the executive summary as being cold. In the absence of us having recourse to questioning the members of the commission - they have refused invitations to be here and I am not going to pass judgment on that - the Minister is the person in the firing line for questions on the narrative. The process of correcting the narrative has yet to be fleshed out. If I understood him correctly, what he is saying is that through the interdepartmental process that he is going to seek some mechanism that he has called a right to rectification. I would like to know the following, in very simple terms. Will he consult with external bodies, such as the Collaborative Forum on Mother and Baby Homes, about what that will mean in real terms for people like the following? Today, I spoke to a lady that I will call Mary. She said to me that she gave evidence to the commission, not the confidential committee. She said that she did receive her transcript. She said it was reflected in report but she tells me that there were inaccuracies. Normally, politicians are good judges of character and when I spoke to this person today I knew well within a minute or two that this was a reasonable, rational person who, crucially, did not give evidence to the confidential committee, she gave it to the commission but there are inaccuracies. No matter how small or big those inaccuracies are, they are inaccuracies. What can I tell this person in respect of a process that the Minister will now create in the absence of, we assume, the commission not being reconstituted again although we would support calls for that? What process can that person rely upon now to ensure that her story is accurately reflected in this report?

The Minister, dare I say it, has to give a simple, clear answer in respect to the right of rectification. Will there be a restorative process? Will he open up a whole chapter again in respect of people such as I have described? There are many of them out there, we all have testimony of it and the Minister has acknowledged those people and the fact that there has been no correct interpretation of what they said to the confidential committee and the commission. What will the Minister do to ensure that the narrative is corrected for people? We cannot talk about burials legislation, and information and tracing, until there is confidence that the narrative has been corrected.