Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is often the case that when archives have to be destroyed they are placed in an archive box somewhere in a Department and may not yet have been destroyed. It is very important to dig deep and immediately establish the position in that regard with certainty.

The staff in my office draw up a list of people I have to call back and WhatsApp it to me. I received a call from a lady in my home county and I phoned her back when I left Dublin one day. I was still on my phone when I reached the Barack Obama Plaza. We were an hour and a half on the phone and it was a call I will not forget. She told me her birthday each year is the day she regrets most because it is the day on which she becomes aware of her lack of identity. She said she had delved into the whole process of establishing who she is, who her mother was and tracing her backstory. She is acutely aware there are shortcomings in the Irish system in terms of social workers. We do not have enough social workers. Britain is two decades ahead of us in how it deals with people who have been adopted and those who are trying to trace their life story. It involves much more than sliding a brown package across a desk to reveal to someone who he or she is. There needs to be a whole process of supports thereafter. We need some assurances from the Department that there will be increased recruitment of social workers so that supports continue long after people establish who they are.

Is the Minister giving direction to local authorities? I ask because it came as a surprise to me that local authorities had a function in mother and baby homes. They had an oversight and inspection role in the homes. Clare County Council in my constituency had a function with regard to Kilrush mother and baby home in which 168 babies died. We have seen mayors and chief executives of various local authorities stand up in council chambers and apologise. Have guidelines been issued on this? Local authorities were a major player as they were the eyes of the public and performed an inspection role? Is guidance being issued by the Department on the role of local authorities in this process as it continues?

In the days following the summary report being issued, the breaking story in the news was about mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland. It is conceivable that a young girl growing up in a Border area or community could have spent time in both jurisdictions. Has there been engagement between the Minister and his counterparts in Northern Ireland to seek justice for these young women who are now old? Is there cross-Border co-operation on this?

What is happening with religious orders and financial redress? We cannot take "No" for an answer. There must be no ifs or buts. They have to pay up and the cost cannot all fall on State coffers. There is a dual responsibility on the State and church. The church has to pay up and we need to know how that is panning out.

I will end with a human story. Leaving Leinster House about four months ago, before lockdowns began, I encountered an elderly woman and a younger woman at the front gate. I established that they were mother and daughter. The elderly lady had spent time in Tuam and now lives in Dublin with her daughter living a short distance away. The mother was a survivor of a mother and baby home. She told me she had had a hard life in her early years but has had a good life since. We moved on in our discussion and I established that she needed certain things to make her life a bit easier. She had applied for a housing adaptation grant. I give credit to Senator Mary Fitzpatrick. The mother and daughter live in her local area and the Senator came out to speak to them. We can show that lady at the front gate and many more like her around the country real kindness in the latter years of their lives, whether it is in housing or by providing all the other supports they may need. I know I have asked a lot of questions but I would the Minister to make a brief comment.