Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I also extend my party's deepest sympathies to the bereaved families and friends of the two young children and the young woman who lost their lives so tragically in the fire at Kilcronan in Clondalkin overnight. Our thoughts are with them and we wish all of those who were injured a full and speedy recovery.

Today is International Women's Day. It is a day for commemorating and celebrating the struggle for women's rights. Here in Ireland and around the world, women have won many battles for equality but the struggle is not over, not by a long stretch. To this day, the legacy of this State's mistreatment of women and children remains. Issues like the gender pay gap and the eighth amendment have yet to be addressed. We are also reminded of the shocking and disgraceful State-sponsored abuse of women in the not too distant past. In that context, I wish to raise the issue of the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes.

On Friday morning last, the commission outlined the details of excavations that have discovered a significant quantity of human remains at the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam. The remains discovered are the bodies of babies and children who were unceremoniously buried there without any recognition. They were buried in a septic tank without any respect for their identity or dignity. It is a cause of national shame. However, none of this was accidental. It was, as the Taoiseach knows, State policy. I listened to the Taoiseach's words very carefully yesterday. He said that the nuns did not kidnap children but that society gave them up. That is so but let us remember that it was people who sat in this Chamber and on the Government benches over the years who facilitated that. The State funded, regulated, oversaw and enforced a grotesque system that vilified and abused women and their babies and, to this day, the State refuses to afford the survivors justice. Look to the case of Mr. Peter Mulryan, who was in court on Monday for the fifth time seeking access to files held by Tusla and the Bon Secours Sisters on his infant sister, Marian Bridget. He believes that she died in Tuam and was buried there but he cannot be sure. In the past, An Garda Síochána believed that the Tuam site was a famine plot - not so. Now, as we discover the grim reality that the site is the scene of a mass grave and potentially a crime scene, where is the Garda response?

The commission established by the Government in January 2015 is inadequate. The Taoiseach knew that, as did the former Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, at the time. We told them so and, more importantly, advocacy groups made that very clear. The commission's inadequacy is now crystal clear and this has been voiced by the United Nations, which has said that the investigation does not meet international standards. Tuam, as we know, was just one of a vast network of institutions which systematically violated the rights of women and their children and facilitated an illegal adoption trade or child trafficking.

Will the Taoiseach now commit to engaging with the victims and survivors in order that the commission's terms of reference can be examined, amended and expanded? That is the only way that we can have any hope of getting to the full truth. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, has had the second interim report of the commission from Judge Yvonne Murphy on her desk since September. That report specifically examines the need to expand the terms of reference. Will that report be published without further delay?

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