Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his constructive comments. Everybody is aware that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has today announced that the Government will set up a commission of inquiry into mother and baby homes as run in Ireland in the past decades. We do so with a sense of sadness but, equally, with a sense of duty and resolve. The interdepartmental group has commenced its work which it will continue on all of the issues being mentioned to be reported on to the Government shortly. This is about examining a period in which women, particularly young women, were silent and silenced. It was an extraordinary time when the women of Ireland, mna na hÉireann, poor women especially, were callously held to account. It is not an exaggeration to say that in many cases their treatment and that of their babies was an abomination. In that regard, the inquiry will consider a time when there was a disturbing symbiosis between the Church and the State when a sin became, if not a civil wrong, certainly a societal offence. These were not the good old days about which we were told. They were not times of happiness or comfort for a great number of people. The walls of respectability that surrounded many God-fearing sectors of society have now been dismantled and the consequent freedom and shame are ours to act on and we will do so.

I thank the Deputy for his comments which were made in a constructive fashion. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is open to full consultations with members of the Opposition. This is an issue for Ireland because if it is not handled properly, in many ways, Ireland's soul will lie, like the babies of so many mothers, in an unmarked grave. It is important that we try to get this right.

I take the Deputy's points on counselling and the structure, scale and scope of the inquiry. These are matters the Minister will certainly take into account. It is for the mothers involved and their babies and the sake of the lost and stolen generations within families that we deal with the issue. I hope we will hold the inquiry in as compassionate, humane and understanding a way as possible. The Minister will see to it that Opposition parties and Independent Members are consulted fully in terms of discussions on the structure of the inquiry, the terms of reference and how the issue should be handled.

This issue has affected the lives of so many in the country and abroad as a consequence of what happened. While in some cases we seem to consider that this just happened in the past few years, it is a reflection of a period since the foundation of the State in terms of what happened to women and mothers in Irish society. Where they were poor and uneducated, it made matters even worse. It is not about comely maidens dancing at the crossroads. This is an issue for the Ireland of today to deal with as another element of our not so glorious past.

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