Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

The appalling scandal of mother and baby homes between the 1920s and 1970s was known to the State, State agencies, the Church and the Irish establishment. These homes were registered, regulated and inspected by the State under the Registration of Maternity Homes Act 1934. They were State services. They were registered, regulated and inspected officially by the State and run by religious orders. During this time the State was run by a coalition of the Government, State, legal and medical professionals and property owners. The entire Irish establishment went along with this disgraceful situation. The damning revelations we have heard in the past week to ten days are not new; Official Ireland knew all about them. It knew what went on in these homes, including forced and illegal adoptions, the disgraceful burials and so on. The Irish establishment had full knowledge of and consented to this awful situation. State inspection reports described children as being fragile, pot-bellied and emaciated. Cause of death was regularly recorded as starvation.

The reaction of shock and horror in the past ten days by the State, members of the Church and professionals is disingenuous and dishonest. I welcome the establishment of a commission of inquiry but withhold final judgment on it until I have had sight of its terms of reference. I want all homes to be investigated as part of the inquiry. Issues such as the role of the State, the Church, State agencies and Departments, local authorities and inspectors; the profile and social status of the women in these homes; the mistreatment of mothers and babies; the burial procedures; forced and illegal adoptions; vaccine trials and so on must be examined. The issue of the Magdalen laundries and the question of redress must also be addressed by the inquiry. It must be timely and commence immediately.

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