Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will address a specific point. There was no proposal coming to Cabinet in June 2021. I am not sure, but I am aware there was some newspaper coverage of that. There was, however, no specific proposal. Indeed, in July 2021 when we debated the issue in the Houses I spoke about trying to ensure that the testimonies of persons who appeared before the confidential committee were on the public record. I said explicitly then that I did not know how this was going to be done because we had nothing prepared at that stage. From my point of view there was not a proposal in June 2021.

On the wider issue, and Deputy Cairns's statement about me ignoring the will and preference of the survivors and acting unilaterally, over the course of my time in this Department I have met a significant number of survivors, through groups and individuals, either online or in the Department here. A significant number of survivors have also come up to me on the street and at events to identify themselves to me. They told me that they had been in such and such an institution and had been subject to an illegal birth registration. They discussed their views on where they see the actions of the Department and my actions as the Minister over the past two years.

Some were undoubtedly critical. Others recognised the steps that have been taken. At the time that the issue came up and the time following the appearance of Professor Daly at the seminar in Oxford, the key issue for survivors who wrote to me was that their words were not being reflected in the historical record. That is not something I thought; it is what survivors were saying to me in their communications. They did not feel their experiences were being reflected. They had gone to the trouble, and through the trauma and upset, of going before the confidential committee and all their input had been boiled down to a short paragraph that, in certain cases, was not just their own story. It is on that basis I am bringing forward this proposal.

The steps involved with this proposal are that we will first seek Government approval before a consultation, after which we will come back and provide a legislative basis. There will be an opportunity for survivors to give their views on what we are trying to achieve. A memorial centre in the national records is one element of our response. It is a response to what I heard from survivors.