Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thankfully, I was not here last night to listen to the contribution of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, because when I read the transcripts today I was rather shocked by some of the things she said. I was shocked because it was as if, when she walked into Government Buildings, someone had erased her memory. It was like something from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", as if someone took her out and put in someone else's memory and feelings. It was as if everything she had said on this issue went out the window during her contribution last night. That was rather disappointing not only for me but, I imagine, for the Bethany Home survivors as well. I will quote some of the things she has said previously on this issue. On 7 October 2010, Deputy Kathleen Lynch issued a statement and I will quote from that statement:

The continued refusal of the Government to include former residents of the Bethany Homes and the Magdalene Laundries under the provisions of the Residential Institutional Redress Scheme is a running sore ... As a result, the survivors have been deprived of the opportunity of having their case heard and of obtaining some justice and redress for the abuse they suffered as young, innocent and vulnerable children.

In recent times some tenacious survivors and dedicated researchers have managed to piece together the grim picture of what happened in these bleak places. As a result, it is now becoming clearer and clearer that these institutions were, to all intents and purposes, places of detention, and that as such, 'residents' were effectively sentenced by servants of the state, to periods of confinement therein.

She went on to say:

I raised this matter with the Tánaiste, Deputy Mary Coughlan in the Dáil today, but unfortunately nothing she said to me in reply, would lead me to conclude that she has any plans to address this issue in any meaningful way ... The Government must do the decent thing and end this outrage.

Those were the words of the now Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, only three short years ago, in stark contrast to what she delivered to the Chamber last night. She said it was an outrage back then but it is still an outrage now.

Yet, last night in the Chamber the Minister of State spoke in favour of a Government amendment to our Private Members' motion which, in one fell swoop, practically revised history given what she has said previously on Bethany Home. She glossed over the fact that the State was directly responsible for sending women to the institution. She blamed the deaths of hundreds of children on the fact that poverty and infant mortality rates were high back then. She further attempted to paint Bethany Home as some type of blissful sanctuary for the pregnant and destitute women of this State, especially those from Dublin. She said it was completely open to the public. She pointed to the fact that there were sales of work and that the residents of the institution made various products that had been for sale. She did this in a bizarre effort to try to portray an institution that was not so unjust and harsh on the people who, unfortunately, found themselves behind those doors.

The Minister of State made further comments last night which were even more disappointing because she referred to us and questioned our motives for putting down this Private Members' motion. She said she was "surprised by the people in Sinn Féin putting down this motion". She went on to call on us to "reflect on the work of this Government, which has dealt with symphysiotomy, the Magdalenl laundries women, Mr. Neary and all the other major legacy issues that will have a substantial cost on the State".

Let us be clear. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is listening because I want her to be clear to her as well. It is neither here nor there what the State has had to deal with up to this point. There is a litany of people who are owed apologies on behalf of the State and who were failed by the State. The Bethany Home survivors are one such group. They are entitled to justice, an apology and a redress scheme, the same as any other group who have been failed by the State.

The Minister of State made a particular point in asking whether those of us in Sinn Féin did not believe that if this Government could have included the Bethany Home survivors that it would not have been done. She went on to speak about transparency, honesty and integrity in respect of this issue. That took a little nerve, even for someone like Deputy Kathleen Lynch, because on 26 May 2010, before she became a Minister of State and entered Government Buildings, she attended a function hosted by the Bethany Home survivors group. After that function she issued a statement to the media in which she said she would add her support to the campaign:

I believe that the Bethany Home should be included within the Irish Government's redress scheme as well as the Magdalen laundry women so that people who suffered the horrors of abuse in those institutions, on the wink and nod of the State, can be afforded the reparations that they deserve. I also believe that there should be a fitting and appropriate memorial to children who did not survive such as those who are buried in Mount Jerome cemetery which I visited today.

I would like Deputy Kathleen Lynch to come to the Chamber before 9 p.m. I am unsure whether she is wrapping up on behalf of the Government, but I would like her to explain not only to me but to the survivors what has changed in those three short years. In 2010 before she was in government she was willing to acknowledge the horrors of abuse on the wink and nod of the State. However, last night she stood up with a straight face in the Chamber and told us that Bethany Home was basically not all that bad because life was tough for everyone back then, there was child poverty generally and she suggested we should not forget that children did not spend long there and, therefore, what was all the fuss was about. I can only imagine what listening to that tripe must have felt like for the survivors, who embarked on a brave and incredibly difficult journey for justice, one which, I fully expect, they will someday achieve. I imagine it was rather like being kicked in the teeth.

The Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, went to some pains to say that she understood just how poor the women who ended up in Bethany Home were. She even made the point that the State could not be held responsible for every tragedy that arose or that was visited on every child. She said "those from Bethany Home were not alone in their experiences and the State cannot accept liability for everything that happened in families when it had no direct involvement". I disagree with that. The State has a responsibility to every child, man and woman. I call on the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, to explain what has changed in her position since 2010. The children who suffered terribly in foster homes upon leaving Bethany Home did not get the luxury of picking who they went to live with.

I conclude by noting one cannot pretend to care about the suffering through which the Bethany Home survivors have gone and then wash one's hands of it when one gets into a position of power and has the means to do everything for which one called when in opposition. It is not acceptable and the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, is doing herself no favours by being such a hypocrite on this issue. Moreover, she certainly is doing no justice to the survivors themselves.

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