Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her speech. I welcome all she has said this morning.

Deputy Micheál Martin is attending meetings of the ALDE group in regard to Brexit. He sends his apologies. He would have contributed to the debate this morning were he present.

Last Friday morning, 3 March, the Minister, Deputy Zappone, informed colleagues and Galway County Council that exploratory excavations at the site of the Bon Secours mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway had confirmed that the remains found at the site were human remains. The remains dated from 1925 to 1961, the timeframe in which the Bon Secours home was in operation. They were found in two underground structures believed to have been built to deal with sewage.

The commission's remit includes investigating several specific areas of practice and procedures in the care, welfare, entry arrangements and exit pathways for the women and children who were residents of the 14 named institutions and representative sample of county homes identified by the commission.

In the 1970s, Tuam locals discovered what they believed were human remains at the site. Local historian Catherine Corless discovered death records for 796 babies and infants who did not have burial records. This indicated that the remains found on the site may have been buried by the mother and baby home. Without carbon dating and further investigation it was impossible to establish whether these remains were interred at the time of the mother and baby home's operation or at an earlier point such as the Great Irish Famine. Thanks to the work of the commission we now know that the remains were from children aged from 35 foetal weeks to two and a half years at the time of their deaths. It is not yet known how many remains are at the site although the Minister has confirmed there is a significant number. That is the phrase that reverberated around Tuam last Friday: significant number. That is when the clock struck 12. That is when silence dawned. That is when darkness came over the town of Tuam and the county of Galway. That part of history would not have been acknowledged were it not for the original works of Catherine Corless, the efforts of survivors and the work of members of my party, previous and current, who lobbied and pushed for this investigation. The commission of investigation has done a huge amount of work to get to this stage.

What happened in Tuam is an absolute tragedy and a disgrace. Although we have known for a long time that women and children had been treated in the most appalling manner in this country, the recent discoveries in Tuam are truly the stuff of nightmares. To know that a significant number of children and infants were buried there without rite or ritual chills me to the core. Now, as we have been too many times before, we are confronted by the sheer inhumanity that has been shown to these women, buried with not even a stone to mark their passage or their presence. These children were not accorded the symbols to represent the respect they deserve. They were born as no-ones. They were buried as no-ones.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is co-ordinating the commission. We must encourage the commission to expand its scope. I will be calling for that to happen. It is the very least we should do for all women who entered mother and baby homes and county homes. The life of a mother or a baby in Tuam is no different to the life of a mother or a baby anywhere else in this country. We must treat all of our mothers and babies equally. My concern, which I believe the House shares, is for the lack of respect for the fundamental dignity and humility of the mothers and children who spent time in the Bon Secours and other such institutions in this country.

I am conscious that there are hidden layers and complexities to the issue before us. No-one knows this better than the parties directly affected by the discovery in Tuam. First and foremost are the mothers and the babies who survived from these homes, be they adopted or fostered. Their relatives and friends have been left anguished by the thoughts of what has happened to their loved ones. What these women and children experienced as a result of being forced into mother and baby homes was cruel and inhumane.

As a people, we should feel great shame that this has unfolded before our eyes, eyes that watch carefully for a person upon whom to cast judgment, to blame and to castigate. Those same eyes turned away from the immense suffering and tragedy that was visited upon these women and their children. This wilful hypocrisy and contradiction are among the most troubling aspects of this case. To experience the cruelty that these women and children experienced is a deep wound. To come out to be met with widespread denial and stonewalling is yet another. We cannot have justice for survivors until we know what they have survived.

Last Friday I rang Tommy Warde, from Kylebrack, Loughrea, County Galway. He was on the front page of The Irish Timeslast Saturday. Last night, he described himself as one of the lucky ones. He was fostered. There has been little discussion about the children fostered from the mother and baby homes. Tommy was five and a half years of age when he was put in a van and brought to his new foster parents. Today he reflects on the sadness of what has emerged because he sees those babies as his brothers and sisters. They were his family. That was the institution Tommy lived in until he was five and a half years old. He never saw a cow or a sheep until he moved to Woodford. He knew no form of love or appreciation until he went to Woodford.

When we reflect back on society and Government and on who had a role, we should realise that we all had a role. Tommy was fostered and an allowance was paid for him. Who paid the allowance? Tommy's foster home had inspections, of which they knew in advance. However, who carried out the inspections? Where are the records? There are records. We have an allowance and records of inspections. When Tommy hit 18 years of age, he was given the price of a bicycle.

Who gave him that? The bicycle was to allow him to take up an apprenticeship. Fortunately for him, he said he did not like carpentry and he was looked favourably upon and allowed to become a mechanic. Tommy is one of the lucky ones. He has advocated for years for the issue to be dealt with. He thanks the Minister and commission for highlighting the issue - for the first time in his life his voice has been heard and for that he is grateful.

We have to write our history. We must also think about children on waiting lists, in homeless accommodation or with disabilities who do not get the appropriate services they need. In 100 years' time I do not want it to be said that I failed. That is why it is important that we dovetail history. While we think of the past, we must also think of the present because I do not want to be part of the future history that stood by and talked about children with disabilities or those on waiting lists because we will be remembered in the same way. They are the people who need a voice and that is what is expected of us.

We on this side of the House will support the Minister. We need to expand the scope of the work and for all of the people who have had horrific lives to come forward. We need to examine the scope of the commission's work. Let us make it inclusive and ensure that when women come forward they do not sit at a table across from six people who are investigating them. Let us make sure that the women concerned have support going into a room because they are vulnerable and we have to encourage them to come forward and engage with the commission. Without their engagement, we will leave a big, black, dark hole in Irish history. We need everybody to engage with the commission.

To date, the residents of Tuam have not engaged with the commission. I encourage them to come forward. I represent the people of Tuam and my heart goes out to them. However, we also have to think about the building works currently taking place at the grove site in Tuam.

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