Mr. Sidney Herdman:

I am a member of the Collaborative Forum, which was set up roughly three years ago. We discussed all situations in respect of the institutions and the burials as well. We did a report in 2018 and it is there in the Government records. If the committee requires the relevant information, I think it is chapter three which deals with the Bill. We have already made our recommendations, which we all agreed to in the Collaborative Forum. There are 20 people on the Collaborative Forum and we all make independent choices for different groups. If the committee could get that report, it would be helpful for the Bill.

It is a disgrace to our ears to hear what went on in the 1990s in these burial grounds. I refer to human bodies lying in unmarked graves. Any other country would have a full investigation into these unmarked graves of humans. I know the situation with Tuam, where there is a septic tank with bodies in it. In our day and age? Come on. We have an organisation in our country and in our society and it should be called in to oversee all this. The organisation we refer to is the Coroner Service. It is a legal body with backup. Its members can provide reports. Let them stand up and do their work.

I belong to an organisation on the Protestant side of the fence, which is Institutions Out There. We have marked most of the children in these unmarked graves in Dublin. A monument was already put up for them, but we do not know where they are exactly because there are different plots in that ground. We would like to know where they are and that needs a bigger investigation in itself. I am talking about all institutions with burial grounds. The powers already exist to go in there and sort it out. Please sort it out. I might have siblings in a burial ground that I do not know of. I know that my birth mother was in a mother and baby home called the Bethany Home. Subsequently, I was there at the door of the Bethany Home. My older sibling, who lives in England, knows of three other babies, but we do not know where they were born. We do not know if they were born in the Bethany Home or not, if the committee members can see where I am coming from on that issue. I want to make that point.

I thank the committee very much for letting us come here today as the Collaborative Forum and I ask the members to please feel free to read the report. I thank the members of the committee for their time, and I am only too happy to answer any questions.