Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman has addressed many of my concerns around the legal complexity arising in seeking to facilitate an external review of accounts provided privately. That was one of the concerns I had. Some survivors still feel their testimony should be reviewed and the Minister has addressed that here. He spoke in his opening statement about some survivors not being able to see their own words in the final report. I can only say that I have been on this committee since it was originally formed and I know from working with the Minister that he has been listening to survivors. He has met survivors in my own area of Carlow-Kilkenny and has come down to visit them. He has been listening to their concerns. There is a slight issue with communication, particularly in this instance, although I welcome the information given by the Minister on the radio recently that more than 1,898 survivors have looked for their birth information. That is very welcome. As part of our remit in this committee, we have to find solutions. We have met so many survivors and as previous speakers have said, this issue is so sensitive for the survivors and their families. The Minister and I, and the committee, are finding solutions and the only way we can do that is to work together. I see the Minister spoke in his opening statement about Government approval been sought in the coming weeks for publication of the mother and baby homes institutional payment scheme. One thing I have said and will always say is that survivors are not getting any younger. We have a duty of care regarding payment as soon as possible. Local authorities need to play a bigger part in this going forward. I am working at the moment on a very sensitive case around housing need, medical cards and things like that. We are not giving this issue the urgency it needs. This needs to be communicated better and, if nothing else, we need to deliver on all the different things we have agreed to. The one thing we need to do now is make sure that there are payments, housing, grants and enhanced medical cards. I understand that much of this has been worked on but there are many things that have not. If we do nothing else as a committee, for ourselves and for survivors, we have to deliver on that.

The Minister spoke about the national centre for research and remembrance. That is so important but we need more joined-up thinking across all the different agencies. This needs to be a priority. The timescale is of utmost importance. When he returns to the committee, can the Minister provide more information and some sort of timescale that we can give to survivors? They really need that. As committee members, we are fully committed to making sure the outcome is the best we can get for a situation that is so sensitive and has affected so many lives and people in our community. As someone who has worked with the Minister and with the survivors, I can say he has always written to them, met them and come back to them. I am very respectful of that, as are the survivors who I have asked him to talk to.