Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is hard to overstate the devastation felt by citizens the length and breadth of this country as a result of the findings at Tuam. Their horror and shock are very real. It is completely hypocritical, however, for the State to feign shock at that discovery.

The knowledge has been well known - our dirty hidden secret that many people, and certainly officialdom, knew about. We know that Catriona Crowe at the National Archives found records in 1996 showing illegal birth certificates and illegal passports for illegally adopted children. We know of the internal report revealed by former senior official at the HSE, Philip Garland, regarding the reports that were there about the epidemic levels of deaths in Bessborough, reports in the hands of the Department in respect of which there was no action or no inquiries for years. It is true to say these are real horrors but they are systematic of a society and a culture which demonised women and a deliberate policy of shame and stigma around fallen women. These were detention centres for pregnant women and it is apt that we are discussing these matters the day after International Women's Day and in the context of other discussions that are taking place around this issue now.

Without making light of it, I thought the headline, "Taoiseach's Speech On Tuam To Be Followed By Decade Of Delaying Investigations", that appeared on the Waterford Whispers News website yesterday best captured the situation in which we find ourselves. However, that is not what we want. Since June 2011 when I asked the then Minister, Senator James Reilly, about the 42 mother and baby homes, the illegal adoptions and so on, this issue has been kicked around form Department to Department. I have had interaction with six Ministers, delays, excuses and inaction. I am not targeting this Minister or anything like that. That has been the systemic approach to these issues. I would point to the heroic work of the likes of Paul Redmond, Claire McGettrick and Conall Ó Fátharta of the Irish Examiner, who since 2010 has been forensic in his examination of what was actually known in the State system about this horror. We have had repeated questions and passing of the buck on many of these matters.

What needs to be done now is what the survivor groups have asked us to do, namely, acknowledge the State's role and hold those responsible to account. The Government needs to stop running from fear of compensation. There is no way to compensate people for what has been done but let us get the truth out there. They at least deserve that. The handing over of the records held in the homes and a full audit to identify all the children is utterly necessary but critically, we cannot go to the next stage unless we see the interim report. I could plaster my walls with the amount of requests I have made for it. This must be the starting block of the expansion of the terms of reference and all those people, some living, some dead, whose history and identity were stolen and whose lives were ruined by this State. We need all survivors included. There cannot be a hierarchy, none are more important than others.

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