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

Mr. David Dodd:

Could I make one final point when it is appropriate to do so? As the Acting Chairman can imagine, we are linking in with our group and getting feedback live. One point I did not make but should have made is that not one mother with whom we have spoken is in favour of the idea of exhuming her deceased child. They find that concept very traumatising. They are already traumatised and not one mother has sought that. They have expressed that as re-traumatisation. This has been fed through to me as we have been speaking live. It is not a point I hit off. I just wanted to make that point to the committee. Others may have views and logic and law may dictate it, but from a mother's perspective, exhuming one's child is really quite a visceral concept and those mothers are entitled to express the view that they do not want this to happen. It is important I make that point as it is something I forgot to touch on earlier, so I am grateful to the Acting Chairman. I hope it is okay to finish with that.

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