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

I am sharing my time with Deputies Mary Butler, Kevin O'Keeffe and Fiona O'Loughlin. I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for moving the motion. It is a conversation we need to have. What has been put before us has us back in the Chamber again to discuss this matter. We were here less than a month ago after the revelations about Tuam. "Shocked", "horrified" and "dismayed" are some of the words we would use to describe what came before us. Coming from east Galway, I was bitterly hurt, upset and disappointed for the residents, the survivors, the mothers, the babies, those who were adopted, those who died, those who were fostered, those who lived nearby and those who live in Tuam and surrounding areas. It was a poor reflection on the people from Tuam and was not a true reflection of them.

While we agree in principle with the establishment of a truth commission, my party and I believe the Sinn Féin motion is premature. While in principle we are not against a truth commission, the best model would have to be agreed, should only be done following consultation with the survivors and various groups representing survivors and cannot usurp the current commission of inquiry. We have a number of concerns about the Sinn Féin motion. In the first instance, the motion does not acknowledge or affirm the ongoing commission of inquiry. The commission of inquiry needs to be able to complete its work. While imperfect, it is an important process that is making strong progress towards investigating and documenting the historical abuse and wrongdoing that took place in the mother and baby homes.

With this in mind, we are bringing forward an amendment that seeks to establish a truth commission that will complement the work of the ongoing commission of inquiry and be guided by survivors' wishes and needs. I wholeheartedly agree that this is a conversation that needs to happen. We need to plan for future needs. If we are to be true to all women and children born in the mother and baby homes and similar institutions, it should be open and non-prescriptive. If I have an issue with the Sinn Féin motion, it is that it is too prescriptive. It is so set in stone that there is no room for inclusion, expansion and contribution because this is what we need. Deputy Funchion was so right. We have to learn from the past, the Grace case and all these other cases, because if we do not learn, the same thing will happen repeatedly. This is why thousands of cases of abuse are before Tusla at this time. I certainly do not want that on my watch. What I do want on my watch is to push forward a truth commission. I wholeheartedly believe that if we were to come together as a group, do what the Minister says and work through consensus, we will get there with a truth commission. We need to include everyone. This includes all parliamentarians here. It includes not just mother and baby homes but all survivors from institutions and all children, be they fostered or adopted. We need their input. It cannot be a case of one party taking ownership. We must all work together for the people in the Public Gallery and those who represent people who are too shy and too withdrawn to come forward, because there is a serious amount of hurt, grief, anger and upset and people want answers.

The one part of the motion that I liked was that we would look at the oldest people first. If we are to go forward with the truth commission, people have the right to closure and answers. I hear what Sinn Féin is saying about my party's amendment, which leaves out what the Sinn Féin motion says about not having access to documents. There are two sides to this. Some people have walked away from that part of their lives and have closed the door. They have put on a mask and have dealt with it. They have the right to a choice when it comes to the disclosure of their documents. Sinn Féin Deputies are right when they say that people who make contributions to committees or the commission of inquiry should have access to what has been documented, but the only way we are going to address all of this is by saying that we want an expansion of the current commission of investigation. We need to establish a truth commission. We need to bring what we want to the one table. Looking at the motion and amendments before us, it is certain that we all want the truth. We all want to do the right thing by the survivors and those mothers. Most importantly, when history is being written, we certainly do not want to see a repeat of what happened in the past. We need to learn from that and to acknowledge that it was a dark time in history. Let us not repeat it. I would like to see consensus and all of us working together. I support the Minister in that I would like to see the current commission of inquiry complete its work. I would like to see that interim report appear.

I would like to see that the commission is working in a timely manner and that it is getting answers and will provide the people with Tuam the answers they require because they still do not have them. All they know is that a significant number of bodies were found. We need to know about DNA. The survivors and many others have so many questions and we need answers to those questions. If we do everything in a timely manner, people will be able to draw support and comfort from the fact that the commission of investigation is working in their best interests and will deliver results. These results will say in time that we learned. That is the most important thing for us to take from this. We must learn.

It is awfully important too to reflect on the survivors. That we are opening such wounds must be so harsh. It must be such a struggle for them. Day in, day out we are discussing these people. The last time I spoke in the Dáil, I said that it was not just women and babies from Tuam that we need to discuss. This did not just happen in Tuam. It happened throughout the country. We need to see the commission of investigation's remit expanded. My party will wholeheartedly support its expansion. The church has a role to play. This has been documented very well in the media recently. I will not get into it now but there is a whole scope of works there.

The amendment I have tabled to the motion addresses establishing the truth and giving people an opportunity. The most important people are the mothers, the babies and the survivors, young and old, who survived in those institutions. They have a story to tell and it must be listened to. I commend my amendment to the motion to the House.

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