James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

— having regard to the motion passed by Dáil Éireann on 11th June 2014 which recognised the need to establish the facts regarding the deaths of children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway between 1925 and 1961, including arrangements for the burial of these children, and which further acknowledged the considerable public anxiety as to the conditions generally in mother and baby homes operational in the State in that era;

— noting that it is the opinion of the Government that these matters of significant public concern require, in the public interest, examination by the establishment of a Commission of Investigation;

— noting that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has led the Government’s consideration of these sensitive matters;

— noting the factual information compiled and the specific matters identified for further consideration in the Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on Mother and Baby Homes which was laid before Dáil Éireann on 16th July 2014 and which has assisted to inform Government considerations on the scope, format and terms of reference for a Commission of Investigation;

— and further noting that a draft Order proposed to be made by the Government under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 (No. 23 of 2004) has been duly laid before Dáil Éireann on 16th January 2015 in respect of the foregoing matters referred to, together with a statement of reasons for establishing a Commission under that Act;

approves the draft Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters) Order, 2015 and the statement of reasons for establishing a commission of investigation.

I welcome the opportunity to bring this motion to the House. I begin by acknowledging the Irish women and children who were in mother and baby homes in this country in the last century. Many will be following proceedings in the House today with a great deal of anticipation. As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I believe that by setting up the commission with all the necessary powers to get to the information required we will come to a greater understanding of how it was that we, as a society, failed in our treatment of vulnerable single women and children in these homes.

Last May people in Ireland and around the world were shocked by media reports about what was described as a mass grave in the mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway. The sense of indignation we all felt about this was palpable. While some academics had examined these matters, as a state we had failed to come to terms with a harrowing reality of our past; the manner in which single women and their children had been treated in mother and baby homes, how they had come to be there in the first place and the circumstances of their departure from them.

As Members know, I came into this office last July, shortly after a motion had been passed by Dáil Éireann in June on the need to establish the facts regarding the deaths of children at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway and the subsequent publication of the report of the interdepartmental group on mother and baby homes. As an immediate priority, I was concerned to meet and hear, at first hand, the accounts of many people and groups that had expressed views on the need for a full exploration of all the issues raised by the discoveries in Tuam. These included demands to explore a wide range of matters – many directly related to the disturbing account provided by local historian Catherine Corless; others related to the wider issue of mother and baby homes generally and the role they had played in Ireland for such a long period.

For those who gave me individual accounts of their experiences, I found them compelling and greatly appreciate the willingness and courage of those who shared their personal and often harrowing experiences with me. On my own behalf and that of the Government, I thank them for taking the time to meet me. Other advocacy groups, public bodies and political colleagues across the spectrum also provided me with a wide range of views, all of which assisted me greatly in focusing the terms of reference in what was an extensive scoping process, given the complexity and sensitivity of the issues involved.

At its meeting on 8 January 2015 the Government agreed the processes to establish a commission of investigation into mother and baby homes and certain related matters. The following day I published the draft order now before the House in the presence of former residents of some of these homes and their representative groups. The terms of reference have been developed having regard to the requirements of the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. The order should be read in the context of the significant powers, procedures and protections laid down in the enabling legislation. I think all of the groups I met agreed that making this a feasible task which could be completed in a realistic timeframe was critical. However, this must be balanced with ensuring we do not compromise on the need for the commission to answer the questions raised. Given the breadth of the issues raised with me, this has been a challenge.

As Members of the House will be aware, when this debate began, the issues appeared narrow – the high rates of mortality and the burial arrangements. However, the debate broadened to the question of the operational arrangements in mother and baby homes and the care and welfare provided for both mothers and babies. As our work progressed, a further set of issues arose about the whole phenomenon of mother and baby institutions in Ireland as a response to the issue of crisis pregnancies over a much longer period of time. As individuals and groups made submissions and following the work of the interdepartmental group and my own meetings, it was clear to me that the issue of entry and exit pathways of both women and children raised further questions regarding the social, political and legal environment that prevailed and how it evolved over time. Further, the links between mother and baby homes and the issue of adoption, both before and after the introduction of legal adoption in Ireland, were highlighted. It included questions about children adopted and taken abroad and children whose parentage was concealed with and perhaps without the consent or knowledge of their mothers. As is clear, this is a much wider agenda than our starting point.

The Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 provides an effective, prompt and transparent mechanism to investigate complex and sensitive matters, while also respecting fair procedures and natural justice. I am pleased to bring to the House the draft order and statement of reasons for establishing a commission in accordance with the legislation. The terms of reference, included as a Schedule to the order, reflect the range of matters that we were asked to consider and are a fair and balanced response to the many requests for issues and items to be included.

As the draft order has been laid before the House and published more widely, for the purposes of the motion I propose to focus on its principal objectives and, in particular, the rationale for key provisions within the terms of reference. The draft order contains a number of preliminary recitals and four main provisions. The recitals provide details of the statutory powers under which the commission is being established by the Government and confirm the date of the Government decision as 8 January 2015. They acknowledge that the Government order may be signed by the Taoiseach when a draft of the proposed order and a statement of the reasons for establishing the commission have been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving the draft has been passed by each House.

Articles 1 to 3, inclusive, provide for the Short Title; define the relevant enabling legislation; establish the commission and task it with investigating and reporting on matters which the Government considers to be of significant public concern. This is the threshold for establishing a statutory commission of investigation. The terms of reference have been developed in accordance with section 4(2) of the 2004 Act.

Article 4 designates the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs as the Minister responsible for overseeing administrative matters relating to the establishment of the commission. I will receive the reports and discharge related functions under the Act. In addition, the order authorises me to appoint members to the commission.

The terms of reference of the commission are focused on a combination of four distinct factors. First, clarifying that the intended focus is on single women and children accommodated for the purpose of receiving extended and supervised maternity and infant care services in mother and baby homes. Second, defining the specific issues of public concern as discrete matters to be investigated. Third, specifying a list of mother and baby homes as well as providing for examination of equivalent experiences within the network of county homes. Fourth, defining the relevant period from 1922 to 1998 while allowing the commission to reduce the relevant period in respect of any component part or institution if it considers it appropriate to do so.

The approach taken serves to provide a clear and deliberate emphasis on the experiences of women and children who spent time in mother and baby homes during the relevant period. The motion approved by Dáil Éireann had a central emphasis on mother and baby homes. During the course of our deliberations a clear consensus emerged on the need to thoroughly examine the experience of those who spent time in mother and baby homes. Practices in these homes have not featured prominently in the various reviews and investigations to date. Rather, they have dealt with many of the past abuses inflicted on vulnerable citizens, many of whom were women and children. Accordingly, the terms of reference focus on institutions which can clearly be identified as having the primary function of providing sheltered and supervised ante and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children, which included board and lodgings, as well as an ethos that those running the institutions considered would promote a regime of work, training or education as part of an overall approach to either rehabilitating single mothers before they left the institution or give them training to live independently. As established in the academic literature, in many cases institutional approaches were based on a moralistic approach intended to rehabilitate single mothers and to make arrangements regarding the future care of their children. On the basis of the available information I am satisfied that the 14 institutions included in the appendix to schedule 1 to the draft order meet these criteria.

It is clear from the available information that in some county homes mother-and-baby-type services appear to have been a notable focus of operations. For this reason the terms of reference provide that the commission will also consider a representative sample of county homes in its investigations and reports. The sample will be selected by the commission based on evidence of the extent of the operation of this specific function, considering factors such as the number of relevant births, the duration of such operations and the typical length of time for which these mothers and children were accommodated.

Article 1 ensures that the primary focus of the investigation relates to the experiences of women and children who resided in mother and baby homes over the period. The following matters will be investigated: entry arrangements and exit pathways of single women, including consideration of the extent of their participation in relevant decisions; living conditions and care arrangements in these institutions; mortality among mothers and children, including causes, circumstances and rates; post-mortem practices and procedures, including reporting, burial arrangements and the transfer of remains for anatomical examination; the extent of compliance with relevant regulatory and ethical standards in respect of systemic vaccine trials identified by the commission as having been conducted on children in these homes; entry arrangements and exit pathways for mothers and children leaving institutions, including patterns of referral and relevant relationships with other entities; and the extent to which any group of residents may have been treated differently on a systematic basis on any grounds, including race, disability or religion.

The commission is tasked with undertaking appropriate comparative analysis, where relevant, to assist the general understanding of its findings. Article 2 provides that the investigation will cover the years from 1922, that is to say, from the establishment of the State, to 1998. The commission may reduce the relevant period for any part of its investigation where it deems it appropriate to do so. The series of definitions included in Article 8 bring additional specificity to these investigations.

Article 1.7 requires the commission to investigate the nature of the relationship between mother and baby homes and other key institutions, including children's homes, orphanages and adoption societies. In fact, some of these institutions were on the same sites as the mother and baby homes, while others were not. This will allow the commission to investigate concerns about how children exited such institutions.

The terms of reference require the commission to identify the extent to which children's welfare and best interests were considered in making arrangements for their placement, whether through boarding out, fostering or adoption, in Ireland and abroad. Furthermore, the terms of reference stipulate that the commission should identify the extent of mothers' participation in such decisions, including procedures relating to mothers' consent and the extent to which these procedures were sufficient to ensure that consent was full, free and informed. There appears to have been well-established patterns of referral to and through these services to final placements for many of the children. The commission will investigate evidence relating to patterns of referral, relationships and co-operation with other entities and intermediary organisations as well as any systematic arrangements for the placement of children. This will allow the commission sufficient scope to examine both the issue of placing such children for adoption abroad as well as examining situations in which the child's parentage was concealed either by omission or sometimes by illegal means.

The terms of reference provide for a comprehensive investigative framework involving interlinked and concurrent lines of inquiry. While Articles 10 to 15 provide some general guidance, the commission is independent in the performance of its functions and in deciding how best to approach its work. The general intent of Articles 13 and 14 is to reiterate the need for a prompt and thorough investigation and to provide that the commission should tailor its processes and methodologies as appropriate. In addition to the main investigation methods, the confidential committee provided for in Articles 3 and 4 will facilitate individuals who may wish to describe their experiences of living or working in relevant homes to the commission. On the basis of submissions from the public it is anticipated that some former residents will welcome this opportunity to share their experience. This module will allow the commission to ground its work in the reality of the experience of mothers and children in these homes. Since this approach allows for the telling of uncontested testimony in private, the committee will produce a report of a general nature on the experience of single women and children from this module. The commission will establish relevant protocols for the effective running of this module, including procedures to protect the identity of individuals who may wish for their identity to remain confidential during the conduct of the commission and its subsequent reporting. Alongside this, the social history module will provide context through an objective and comprehensive analysis of key issues. This module is intended to assist the commission's determination on a range of matters in accordance with Article 12. Significantly, this analysis will benefit from the extensive legal powers of the commission to access relevant records. Ten specific elements are detailed for analysis in Article 11 of the terms of reference. In addition, Article 15 provides that the commission should have regard to the facts established through previous inquires into related institutions.

I believe that the Commissions of Investigation Act and the terms of reference of the commission provide adequate opportunity for the commission to take an independent view of the adequacy of scope in view of its task. Since the decision to establish this investigation was announced there have been public calls for the inclusion of a broad range of matters. I acknowledge that some may have wished to include a broader and even more diverse range of matters within the terms of reference. While some of these matters are outside the intended remit of the commission, Article 6 provides certain opportunities for the commission to make recommendations. This will be relevant to those who believe that the process to date has not uncovered information relevant to their specific circumstances.

The commission may make any recommendations it considers appropriate in any of its reports. This is not limited to matters within the direct scope of its investigations and may include issues which it deems to warrant further investigation in the public interest. As part of the social history module the commission is tasked with reporting to me on any specific matter that it considers may warrant further investigation in the public interest but which is not covered by the existing scope. This mechanism takes maximum advantage of the investigative powers, resources and expertise of the commission and ensures that any additional matter which may warrant investigation can be brought to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs for further consideration.

I was delighted to announce the Government's approval of a three-person commission chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy. Judge Murphy will be assisted by the eminent historian, Professor Mary Daly and the international legal expert on child protection and adoption, Dr. William Duncan. These appointments reflect my understanding of the need for a depth of knowledge and expertise across these areas which will be required to allow for a comprehensive assessment of the issues and for well-grounded reports and recommendations in due course. I am sure Members of the House will agree that we are fortunate to have such distinguished persons willing to take on the task of investigating over three-quarters of a century of practices in mother and baby homes.

The terms of reference envisage the submission of a final report to me within three years. In addition, Article 5 specifies that the reports from the confidential committee and the social history module would be completed within 18 months. These timeframes are ambitious but I want to ensure these important issues are investigated in a timely manner given the age profile of many of the women and children who were resident in these homes.

On the basis that the commission would be expected to complete its work within 36 months, the Government has noted that costs, exclusive of third party legal costs, are estimated to be in the order of €21.5 million. This includes the funding necessary to meet the set-up and operational needs of the commission and some additional funds to meet the demands attaching to administrative oversight of the commission within my Department. An initial allocation of €6 million has been provided by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in the Revised Estimate Volume to meet costs arising in 2015. The staffing complement of the commission will reflect the scope of the terms of reference and the ambitious timeframe. In addition to direct staffing costs, set-up and ongoing costs will arise for the establishment of the Commission’s offices at 73 Lower Baggot Street, ICT, records management, administration, travel and so forth. My Department is engaging with Judge Yvonne Murphy, the Chair designate, in this regard to ensure a smooth start to the commission’s work. The commission will also have the scope and funds, under section 8 of the Act, to appoint persons with relevant professional expertise and specialists skills to assist its investigations.

I believe that this commission will be critically important in helping us to come to terms with our own history and in understanding who we are as a people. The Government is confident that the proposed terms of reference provide an ambitious and appropriately focused set of tasks which can be accomplished by this commission within a realistic time frame and I commend this motion to the House.

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