John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, set out the Government's position in detail last night. I will take this opportunity to address some of points raised by other Deputies during the debate. In particular, I must address the insinuation made by one Deputy that decisions on Bethany Home may have been influenced by sectarian discrimination. It is patently absurd to suggest that the Ministers for Education and Skills and Justice and Equality, Deputies Quinn and Shatter, or the Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Equality, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, are in any way biased in favour of treating those who were in Roman Catholic institutions more favourably than those in institutions with a Protestant ethos. I must reject completely any such suggestion.

Last night, frequent references were made to the link between Bethany Home and the criminal justice system. There was such a link but I do not see any particular significance in it. Bethany Home evolved from two charities, one of which was the Dublin Prison Gate Mission, which was established in 1876 by a Quaker woman to assist women recently released from prison. It is not surprising, therefore, that this link established in the 19th century continued on into the 20th century. However, I hope there is no suggestion that Bethany Home was in any way the equivalent of a prison. It was not a place of detention for adult women. While women on probation might stay there, they were not detained there. From 1934, Bethany Home was based in the suburb of Rathgar in a home already built on the site. I have heard no suggestion that it was in any way a closed institution surrounded by high walls. Indeed, all the indications are that there was free access to the home. It is true that with effect from 1945, a girl under the age of 17 could be detained there by order of a criminal court but for short periods only and this does not seem to have been a frequent occurrence. There have been no complaints from any individuals in Bethany linked to the criminal justice system and nor has there been any suggestions of wrongdoing as regards this aspect of Bethany Home.

Any objective observer must accept that for most of its existence, Bethany Home was primarily, although not exclusively, a mother and baby home. Its registration as a maternity home under the Registration of Maternity Homes Act 1934, the finding of the High Court in 1940 and the testament of the survivors all support this view. Indeed, as illustrated by the testament read into the record last night, the main complaint of the Bethany group relates to their childhood experiences, starting with their birth in Bethany Home. It is the mother and baby aspect of the home that has given rise to all the controversy.

Mother and baby homes were not included within the scope of the residential institutions redress scheme under the remit of the Department of Education and Skills. I understand that St. Patrick's mother and baby home was included in the redress scheme on the basis that it was subject to inspection by a public body and that it operated as a children's home as well as a mother and baby home. Requests to have other mother and baby homes included in the scheme were also rejected, regardless of their religious ethos. As all the major decisions on the residential institutions redress scheme were made by a Fianna Fáil-led Government, the contribution by Deputy Niall Collins yesterday is somewhat puzzling.

I should clarify that when the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, referred to a charity in the context of Bethany Home, this was not intended as an endorsement of its aims or methods. The term was used in the sense that it was a body established for charitable purposes rather than as a commercial entity.

I wish to clarify that the Government fully acknowledges the hardships and emotional challenges faced by those who started life in Bethany Home. As their testament makes clear, most of them spent a very short time in the home and many of their issues and claims for redress relate to what happened after they left the home.

The remarks made by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch about poverty and infant mortality were not to belittle the experience of those in Bethany Home nor to excuse what happened at the time. Rather it was to point out that, unfortunately, poverty and hardship affected a significant proportion of the population at the time, not just those in Bethany Home. Infant mortality rates at the time were high, regardless of the marital status of the parents.

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