Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 14 April 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

General Scheme of a Certain Institutional Burials (Authorised Interventions) Bill: Discussion

Photo of Erin McGreehanErin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their contributions and submissions. There seems to be a move towards exhumation as the only way to achieve human rights adherence and justice. How do we reconcile this with the fact that so many survivors do not want their babies disrupted in the burial grounds? For instance, there is a hearing next week about the Bessborough development. We need to take a step back on these exhumations because not all sites will be, or should be, exhumed. How do we achieve human rights adherence in those cases? We cannot have a blanket rule and we have to protect the graves of those babies. In many cases, angel plots could be described as mass graves. I want to ensure that can be answered in some way.

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