Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

- acknowledges that the discovery of bodies at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home has shocked the people of Ireland and brought considerable sadness and anger to Dáil Éireann;

- agrees that there are serious questions in relation to other mother and baby homes, particularly in the treatment, records and testimonies of survivors;

- recognises that since the formation of the State, mother and baby homes, industrial schools, county homes, Magdalene laundries and numerous other bodies and institutions were part of a systematic regime that resulted in the abuse and degradation of vulnerable women and their children and the State was complacent in allowing this to happen; and

- further recognises that, despite the high number of people who passed through homes and institutions and through the hands of various other bodies, the State has to date failed to initiate a meaningful process that would help to obtain the truth for survivors, nor has it provided a suitable forum that would allow the full story of these institutions and the system that underpinned them to be made public;

agrees that:

- a truth commission, involving international experts, should be established, that would be based on the principals of best practice from the truth processes in Chile, South Africa, Canada and Australia and would be developed in consultation with both victims and survivors groups;

- the purpose of a truth commission is to establish the truth of these institutions, to give the survivors the option to tell their testimony in a non-confrontational, non-adversarial manner and in either public or private, whichever they are at ease with; and

- its purpose is part of a wider process to identify the persons and institutions responsible for the systematic mistreatment and abuse of women and children within

these care homes and the system as a whole but is not a substitute for the justice system or future criminal proceedings should they be deemed necessary anywhere on the island of Ireland; and

further agrees that the truth commission shall:

- operate on a modular basis in order to ensure that older survivors are among the first to be heard;

- provide for public or private hearings, at the discretion of survivors, at suitable locations throughout the 32 counties where testimonies can be made;

- involve an advisory committee, including victims representatives;

- allow for testimonies from all survivors of care homes and their next of kin, without bias;

- ensure unfettered access to all information and documentation for all survivors, victims and next of kin of residential care homes, including to their information and

archival documentation;

- ensure hearings will include all Protestant mother and baby homes such as Bethany and Westbank mother and baby homes and all institutions, even if they are not included in the Government’s prescribed list;

- preserve the documentation at the Magdalene laundry site in Donnybrook, which will be made available to survivors;

- ensure representatives of the organisations responsible appear to provide testimony and answer questions in public;

- provide, where necessary, legal representation for survivors, with costs being covered by the State;

- as a matter of urgency, ensure that all mother and baby homes and county home sites are subject to an injunction preventing structural changes to or interference with land where exhumations may be necessary until the final report of the truth commission is published;

- allow for the prevention of any interference with relevant sites and all ongoing work on these sites shall cease immediately to facilitate a thorough forensic inspection;

- examine the circumstances of the women and children affected from a constitutional and human rights perspective, including the circumstances of exit for women and children, as well as consider related matters such as the forced labour taken from women, illegal adoptions, vaccine trials and any other such matter that the

commission sees as appropriate, taking the report of the interdepartmental group on mother and baby homes into account;

- consider the manner in which women or children were placed in these institutions, the role the State had in placing them within these institutions and the responsibility it bears for the treatment and welfare of children more generally within these institutions;

- have the power to compel witnesses to come before a truth commission;

- publish a series of interim reports to Dáil Éireann, on a bi-monthly basis, on the progress of the truth commission and its recommendations regarding redress,

identity and access to personal documents, responsibility of institutions, memorialisation, current welfare of survivors, access to courts and the Statute of

Limitations and all other information it considers relevant; and

- ensure that the recommendations of the interim and final reports will be expedited as quickly as possible.

I acknowledge the many survivors and their supporters in the Visitors Gallery and thank them for their attendance.

Oscar Wilde once said the truth was rarely pure and never simple. It has been proved that it is not simple to find the truth on this issue. The intention of the motion before the House is to establish the truth and a process to do this - the truth that has long evaded survivors, been covered up and suppressed and still is to this day; the truth the victims and survivors of abuse by a number of institutions in the State deserve to have. The recent revelations at the Tuam Mother and Baby Home have only confirmed some of our deepest fears. The finding of human remains in what appeared to be mass graves came as a shock, but, unfortunately, in many ways, not a surprise. They have been followed by revelations of inconsistencies in records at Sean Ross Abbey, stories of malnutrition at Bessborough and concerns about the possibility that there are unmarked graves at any number of other locations around the country.

People are angry and believe a severe injustice is certainly being done to those who were subjected to some brutal treatment over many decades, whether in mother and baby homes, county homes or Magdalen laundries. I should add that this did not happen just 60 or 70 years ago; it stretches back throughout the history of the State. These institutions were open up until the 1990s. It is not historical; there are all categories of women and children who are still with us. People are right to be angry and I am sure many representatives elected to this House have heard in the past few weeks both about the anger and sorrow felt by the wider public but particularly by those who were in the institutions. From my perspective which I think is shared by many of those involved, the State has only scratched the surface in the form of a commission of investigation into mother and baby homes which was announced two years ago last month. I do not diminish entirely some of the work the commission has done to date. I believe, however, that ultimately it was hamstrung from the very beginning. We said at the time and it has become increasingly apparent that it is not fit for purpose in its current form. It was set up in the midst of widespread criticism that its terms of reference and the model to be used were utterly inadequate. People who suffered under the system - it was a system, a regime - but not in places on the list of prescribed mother and baby homes were excluded. Survivor groups have also criticised the behind-closed-doors hearings because they believe there is a lack of transparency.

There has also been a failure to recognise that, although the experiences of those who were in mother and baby homes, the Magdalen laundries and other institutions were varied and different, the issues are intrinsically linked. Many children who had their childhood snapped from them in mother and baby homes went on to have further engagement with both laundries and industrial schools, as did their mothers. The State and consecutive Governments continued with their departmentalised, atomised approach which was fragmented and illogical, as the crossover between the homes and institutions is enormous. I emphasise again that it was a regime underpinned by an appalling attitude towards women, particularly unmarried women and their children, which manifested itself across the institutions of the State. That point has been neglected in the contributions of Governments during the years. That is why we propose a radical new approach. We are proposing the establishment of a truth commission. It would draw on the best principles of international practice as seen in South Africa, Chile, Australia and Canada and adopt the best examples of that process here.

Tá an cur chuige seo ag iarraidh aitheantas a thabhairt don idirdheighilt, agus don chodarsnacht, atá ann idir na gnéithe difriúla den chóras agus ag iarraidh rudaí a chur i gceart ó thaobh na héagóra a rinneadh ar go leor de na daoine seo agus solas a chur ar an gcóras ina iomlán. This model would ensure the voices of all survivors would be heard. Too many have been excluded. They would be heard in a way that would give them dignity and assure them that they could trust in the process. This is about transitional and transformative justice. I made a point about people being excluded. The State is involved in a court case in the High Court in which women who were in an industrial school but who were forced to provide labour for the Magdalen laundries were not included in the redress scheme, or at least the State is contesting that basis. There might have been exploited children in one place, but because of this, it is not adequate for the redress board. It is that separation and exclusion we need to resolve.

I am anxious that survivor groups be consulted and a part of this process. I thank the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, for attending our vigil which was held just before this debate. However, it is my understanding the Taoiseach has not during the term of office of this or the last Government met groups of representatives of mother and baby homes. If that is the case, it must change. I read the amendments I received around 2 p.m., with dismay, although perhaps not shock. What I received were amendments that were lacking in thought and substance but also, to an extent, compassion. The suggestion from the Government, Fianna Fáil and the Labour Party was that I delete my motion, practically in its entirety. What was submitted was insulting to those who sit here and further afield watching the debate, regardless of my anger. The Government's amendment is essentially a pat on the back for what it has done to date. What has been done to date in the setting up of a commission of investigation is wholly inadequate and falls far short of what is required in this instance. Fianna Fáil's amendment would remove the right of access to records for victims and survivors. This is a move that makes me wonder how much they have listened to the specific point about access to survivors' own testimonies, in particular. I have a quote from a survivor who has been through the process and presented to the commission: "I asked for my transcripts which detailed my full case submission, but these transcripts are being refused." If a truth commission was set up and survivors were given access to the transcripts, they would be able to give a copy to the new commission which would save time and avoid the need for them to relive the trauma.

I think that is a reasonable point. If there is one thing survivors want, it is the right to their own identity, testimony and words, but that is seemingly not on Fianna Fáil's list of priorities. All that is contained in the amendment is a provision to establish a body to document survivors' stories. To a large extent, this is already being done by volunteers with Justice for Magdalenes. They cannot be commended enough for the great work they are doing in the absence of State support.

The Labour Party's amendment was more conservative and elusive than the Minister's, which is quite disappointing. My party's motion is a genuine attempt to right the wrongs of the past and give a voice to those whose words have fallen on deaf ears for far too long. Members of this House should not be responsible for stifling the voices of these people. They should not confirm the already heightened suspicions of the general public that neither the Government nor the party holding it up have any credibility when it comes to dealing with this issue.

A significant proposal contained in the motion is the requirement for an injunction to prevent any interference in any of the sites at mother and baby homes and county homes where there is any possibility that there are unmarked graves or where there is any requirement for investigations or exhumations. All ongoing work at those locations should cease immediately in order to facilitate thorough forensic inspection. This is a key point of our motion that I wish to emphasise to all those who tabled amendments. Given that this proposal is not included in the other amendments, I ask those Deputies to withdraw their amendments.

We feel that the Sinn Féin motion is a progressive proposal which attempts to prevent a recurrence of many of the mistakes that have been made, such as the ones that happened in Tuam regarding the previous commission of investigation. I had hoped that this suggestion would be easily supported by all. It treats all these sites with the utmost respect and in some respects it errs on the side of caution due to the sensitivity of potential future investigations.

The key point is that the process we are proposing is about tying all the different strands of the system together. It will thus shine a light on all aspects of that terrible episode in our history which is to the State's shame. It is also about ensuring that the experience of survivors in engaging with the State and its processes is accessible. They should feel comfortable with it and be able to engage with it on their own terms as well as trusting it. That has not been the case with the commission of investigation so far.

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