Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As a public representative from Tuam and a Minister of State I can say the past week has been pretty sad for the people of Tuam. It is a milestone in this saga that the evidence is now coming forward which verifies what we have all been told about. I thank the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, for saying the commission will be reconsidered and its terms of reference scoped to see what more can be done. I salute the tenacity and determination of Catherine Corless who first brought these horrific facts to light. We owe her a great debt of thanks for what she has done for our society.

It is clear the events that happened in Ireland were covered up and not spoken about for years. The result is that innocent victims, mothers and babies were outcasts. I have listened to the stories of people who survived and family members, not only in Tuam but throughout the country, and they are not pretty.

I was educated in Tuam and it is a fantastic town. The people are fantastic. I am very proud to know so many people in Tuam and to represent the town. I am also mindful of any negativity that might attach to the town. We also have to take into account the sadness visited on the people who live in proximity to this grave and the site of this home and how they have been put under the spotlight in recent years and days. We are reaching the stage where the truth will come out.

I have listened intently to every speaker here this morning and heard the words "the truth", "we have questions to answer", and "let us get the truth out". By chance I met a man in Dublin last Sunday who is a survivor of the Tuam mother and baby home. He spent five years there and was then fostered and survived a tough time as a boy. Today he lives in Dublin with his wife and has two children and, I think, three grandchildren. We had a good discussion. Before we finished I asked him what he wants now. He said all he wanted was to hear people say to him that they are sorry for what they did to him and to his mother who is now deceased.

It is very simple. We public representatives need to leave no stone unturned to find the truth and I have every confidence in the Government and this Minister that we will find it. We will do this together. We owe it to the children. Let us make sure their deaths and the circumstances in which they died were not in vain. I pray that from the desperate discoveries will come hope and a determination in our society never to tolerate or repeat these atrocities.

See this speech in context