Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The survivors of mother and baby homes and similar institutions present in the Visitors Gallery represent not only themselves and each other but thousands of the most poorly treated of our citizens whose life experiences, exposed now as never before, stand out to the eternal shame of the State and all who contributed to its practices towards and treatment of single mothers and their children.

Successive Governments, in failing to offer a real and meaningful apology and redress, have compounded the survivors' hurt and pain. While the fact a commission of investigation is now being established is a welcome and long overdue development, I am acutely aware and very disappointed that many victims of that system have been excluded from the terms of reference of the investigation. I have previously expressed disappointment with the terms of reference for the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes announced last Friday week. While I acknowledge and welcome that the number of institutions included in the terms of reference of the inquiry has been expanded, I am mindful that a significant number of people will feel excluded and marginalised, even shunned, by the Government's refusal to include the institution or setting that dominates their childhood memory.

The Minister, Deputy James Reilly, is the third Minister we have engaged with on this issue. While the number of homes to be addressed has increased from nine to 14, significant exclusions such as the Magdalen laundries and Westbank remain. We presented an extensive submission to the Minister with significant recommendations following continuous consultation with survivors and advocacy groups. I repeatedly emphasised to the Minister and to his predecessor the importance of inclusivity, of leaving no one out and of not presenting a closed door to any survivor. Many of those who remain outside the scope of the inquiry will find that personal exclusion most hurtful. A lifetime of marginalisation is now to continue, with little prospect of even an acknowledgement of their experiences and their pain.

As the inquiry will span from the foundation of the State to 1998, it is also a matter of serious concern that many survivors are in senior years and may not live to see either an acknowledgement or redress. This process will be cold comfort for many whose individual and collective stories are an indictment of Irish society, civil and religious, throughout all of the 20th century. We see today's Dáil address of the Government resolution to establish the commission as an opportunity hopefully to secure the inclusion of all mother and baby homes and similar institutions. We have recommended a number of amendments, to which I will come shortly.

At this point, I acknowledge the work of Catherine Corless and of those in the NGO sector who have striven for truth and justice for all whose lives have been blighted by their experiences in these institutions. That a real and substantive opportunity for survivors to be heard and hopefully to be properly acknowledged is being established to date, its deficiencies aside, is down in the first instance, to their tireless, and at times unpopular, work on behalf of those who suffered so much at the hands of these institutions.

I have long called for any inquiry into mother and baby homes to cover all such homes and all aspects of the treatment of women and children, including high mortality rates and burial practices. When I spoke on Sinn Féin's motion on the issue in the Dáil in June of last year, I stated that an inquiry was absolutely necessary and that it must be undertaken as soon as possible. We have known for a long time now that women and children placed by the State under the so-called care of religious orders and other church institutions in this country between the 1920s and the 1970s were treated as the outcasts of society and as non-people. In July, I spoke out on the road-map set out by the Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on Mother and Baby Homes. I felt, at that stage, that it did not go far enough and that county homes and Magdalen laundries should definitely be included. The issues of adoptions, both Catholic and Protestant, and of vaccination trials should also be included. At this stage, there has been no word of redress of any kind in this report. That too, and much more, must now be addressed.

I also expressed concern at the appointment of Judge Yvonne Murphy to chair the commission. Judge Murphy was also appointed by the then Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, to report on symphysiotomy and she produced what I and many victims of that barbarous practice believe was a fundamentally flawed report. That said, I wish her and her co-members of the new commission of investigation success in what they are now to embark upon.

We have seen fully revealed the horrors of the industrial schools for boys and young men and of the Magdalen laundries for girls and young women. We also know of the regime endured by young mothers and children in mother and baby homes, including the effective imprisonment of pregnant women, forced adoptions and the sale of babies by religious orders to wealthy Irish-American families. We know of women and girls shunned by their families and disgracefully banished, put away and placed out of sight. We know of individuals who discovered late in their lives that they had brothers and sisters they had never heard of before, and some who had brothers and sisters whom they knew but were never aware they were siblings.

It is important to investigate the truth of past wrongs and past abuses such as those in mother and baby homes, not only for the survivors but also for the well-being of our society today and into the future. They were treated like subhumans, forced to wear uniforms in some cases and subjected to forced and illegal adoptions, as well as physical, emotional and sexual abuse. We must ask why was Irish society willing to turn a blind eye. What forces in their midst compelled so many to silence, to acquiescence? I hope the commission of investigation will speak out clearly on the underlying causes. Similar commissions of investigation into other human rights abuses should also be established, including, as I have already said, the survivors of symphysiotomy, another issue that has seen the abused turned away from the doors of power for many years. They too were young mothers subjected to the excesses of adherence to religious fundamentalism.

Foremost in our thoughts today should be the surviving mothers, who endured what was in reality their incarceration in these institutions, and the surviving adopted children, many of them farmed out or adopted, who wish to find out the truth about the identity of their parents and whether they have siblings and extended families. I hope that this resolution, preferably with our amendments, will help provide the information, redress and, ultimately, solace for all those affected, but I repeat that this can only happen if all affected are included. We cannot have a hierarchy of victims, with some deemed inadmissible.

I will now explain the elements of our amendment, which earnestly seeks to address what we believe are omissions and deficiencies in the Government's terms of reference and draft order for the establishment of the commission.I call on the Minister to give our amendment the attention it deserves and strongly urge him to amend the terms of reference and statement of reasons for establishing the commission of investigation. I will now go through some of the details of this.

We are conscious of the fact that Article 1 refers only to mother and baby homes and does not refer directly to related institutions and agencies. We seek to correct that. We note the absence in Article 1.1 of any express reference to inter institutional transfer across the island of Ireland, North to South or South to North and elsewhere. This is hugely important in the context of so-called "exit pathways". Not only in Article 1.3 but throughout the proposals, we note the reference to mortality and believe a reference "and morbidity" should be added. In Article 1.4, in the absence of an express provision directing the commission where evidence of mass or unmarked graves are found, we suggest it should endeavour to identify the remains, notify families where possible, establish cause of death, including by use of the most technologically advanced and scientific methods, and otherwise enable arrangements to be made for more appropriate reburial. In Article 1.8, we note the reference to religion, race, Traveller identity or disability, but there is no reference to marital status or socioeconomic status. We believe this is critical in regard to the women placed in these institutions.

Article 2, sets the timeframe to be covered by the commission to from 1922 to 1998. I would like to be able to affirm to the House that after 1998, there were no further concerns. However, I am not of that view. I believe the timeframe should be from 1922 to the present day. We also note the absence of the following provision, which should appear after Article 2 and commend that this be added:

The commission shall take proactive measures to alert individuals affected by its inquiry, in person where known or through advertising and by means of public statements, in both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland, in Britain, in the United States and in such other jurisdictions where those affected may reasonably be thought likely to reside, to ensure they understand their rights to testify in private or in public.

We strongly urge that every effort is employed to ensure the maximum number of people affected by the experiences that so many have had in their childhood are included so that no-one out of a lack of knowledge of what is taking place is excluded.

We also propose the following provisions should appear before Article 3. Pursuant to the provisions of section 11 of the Act, the commission shall provide for a public hearing of testimony by persons who were formerly resident or who worked in or were otherwise affected by the institutions listed in Schedule 1 during the relevant period as of right, if such persons so request or if the commission is satisfied that it is otherwise desirable in the interest of both the investigation and fair procedures to hear in public all or part of the evidence of a witness that the commission has called. In this regard, the commission shall make recommendations to the Minister as to necessary arrangements regarding the right to legal advice and or advocacy of those testifying before the commission. In this instance, this concerns not only those who are of the 14 institutions listed and the county homes. It is hugely important that all who have been through these experiences, including those whose particular settings are not included in the Government's list, have access not only to the confidential committee, but that they have the right to request of the commission of investigation that they be heard also in public. This should be a right for all who wish to take that course.

In regard to the recommendations made on the conclusion of either the interim or final reports of the commission, we recommend that one of the component parts of its consideration of the question of effective remedy must be official acknowledgment, apology and memorial. In consideration of the timing of remedies, taking into account the advanced age and infirmity of many of the identified survivors we believe it is important that the earliest opportunity is availed of to ensure the apology and acknowledgement is put on public record. We have listed ten related institutions for inclusion in appendix 1 and have added in eleventh place that any others that the commission may identify during the course of its investigation should be included. I strongly commend each of those we have listed and have argued consistently for their inclusion. It is important the Magdalen laundries, the registered adoption agencies and related institutions are also included in that regard.

I respectfully appeal, not only on my behalf and on behalf of Sinn Féin, but first and foremost on behalf of all of the victims and survivors, that the Minister favourably consider the amendment we have tabled and allow for the critical changes we believe are necessary to make this commission of investigation the one that everyone can sign up to with confidence.

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