Ms Alice Coughlan:

I thank the committee for inviting us here today to comment on the general scheme of the Bill. I am member of the Collaborative Forum of Former Residents of Mother and Baby Homes and Related Institutions, and a survivor – a mother – of Bessborough mother and baby institution. While the members of the forum are pleased that the Bill is setting out a legal framework to address the issue of identifying children and mothers who died in institutions, and to ensure they have a dignified burial, the Bill itself is divisive. There are members of the forum who are broadly in support of it, and members of the forum who oppose it. For my part, I support the Bill, though not without reservation.

As a survivor of Bessborough mother and baby institution, and as a mother whose child was taken, I can say from experience that to lose a baby, to not know whether your child is alive or dead, is the worst experience anyone can ever imagine. I know my child survived, but so many did not, and for far too many women, the question remains. We have known about the 800 bodies in Tuam since 2017 and yet, four years later, we have made no progress in identifying the children, or in providing closure for the survivors who fear that their child, their brother, their sister, is among the bodies. Four years later, and these babies have yet to receive a proper burial. It is for this reason that I think this Bill must pass into legislation as soon as possible.

I am not a legislator and I have no experience in matters of law, so if I am told that a new legal framework is required to ensure that the children currently rotting in Tuam and other institutions are excavated, then I must trust that this is necessary, and ask that anything that can be done is done, that there are no more delays, and that action will finally be taken to rectify what is yet another betrayal of the women and children of Ireland.

This does not mean that I support the Bill wholeheartedly. I have spoken to other survivors and they agree that there are issues that must be addressed. We believe the Bill should include a list of institutions in Ireland, publicly and privately-owned, Catholic and Protestant.

Nothing can be left open to interpretation, there can be no ambiguity and no site can be exempt from investigation. Where there are known or confirmed discrepancies between death records and burial records at any of the listed sites, there should be an investigation. For example, there are approximately 900 bodies, women and children, missing in Bessborough, and this must be addressed.

Ultimately, however, we believe, and I believe, there can be no delay. The longer we wait to excavate the bodies, the more women will die without knowing whether their child is rotting in the ground or in a septic tank.