Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State's reply. While it is an awful thing to say to him, there are 219 graves of children in Bethany Home. They cannot speak because they died before their time, which clearly needs significant investigation and analysis. There is evidence that it was not as previous Ministers held that this was a home for mothers and babies. It was a place of detention and the redress scheme allows for the investigation of institutions where individuals were detained. I understand that the courts ordered mothers to be detained in Bethany Home. There is at least one documented case of a person who having absconded from Bethany Home was brought before the courts and instead of being returned to the home had to serve a prison sentence. Clearly they were sent there as part of the judicial system or as an accepted punishment of the State.

While I am not being pejorative or judgmental, I repeat that those children cannot speak. However, the survivors of Bethany Home can. I heard them speak in Buswell's Hotel. I heard a 70 year old man explain how his life was destroyed by what happened to him there and heard others recount their stories. By looking at them it was clear that they suffered greatly. I ask the Minister of State to review their case.

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