Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue, particularly as a woman and as a mother. I feel it is quite personal, to a certain extent, as somebody who potentially could have been sent to a Magdalen laundry for having a child out of wedlock if I had been born in a different generation. I always think of that when I am reading the stories. While I welcome the establishment of the commission of investigation and the progress that is being made, there is a need to acknowledge the shortcomings of the investigation and the concerns of survivors with regard to it. A United Nations committee recently published a report on Ireland's record on women's human rights. The committee's examination of Ireland in the context of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women resulted in the publication of a wide range of recommendations that are designed to address significant shortcomings in the protection of women's human rights in Ireland.

It noted the unresolved issue of historical abuses of women and girls and the narrow terms of reference of the mother and baby homes inquiry. It called for prompt, independent and thorough investigations, in line with international human rights standards, into all allegations of abuse in Magdalen laundries, children's institutions and mother and baby homes. The recommendations reinforce the case for a truly independent inquiry that seeks to establish truth rather than minimise liability for the State.

As I said yesterday evening during our party's motion calling for a truth commission for mothers and babies and also during statements on the commission of investigation for Grace, we cannot place this kind of abuse and neglect towards women and children in the past as simply part of history, as if it is foreign to us. It is completely disingenuous to pretend that the idea that children were failed by the State is unfamiliar to us. Shameful treatment of children, and of lone parents in particular, continues to be part of our society. It is no coincidence that today's lone parents, the vast majority of whom are women, are the poorest members of our society. Under this Government, and the previous Government in particular, they have been further disproportionately impoverished by policies and recent budgets. More than a quarter of all lone parents and their children experience consistent poverty, while almost two thirds endure enforced separation. Lone parents are also disproportionately affected by homelessness. They make up 65% of people in emergency accommodation. As I have said on a number of occasions, I wonder how much we have learned from our history. We talk about stuff from the past and we all seem so shocked and dismayed and horrified, yet in this day and age we still have so many people in emergency accommodation and children going to school hungry. The vast majority of them are from families of lone parents. How much has really changed?

When we discuss the horrific, disrespectful treatment towards children and women through institutional abuses in the past, it is absolutely crucial that we acknowledge the familiar attitudes towards the care of vulnerable women and children today. I would like to echo the sentiments expressed by Deputy Boyd Barrett about direct provision in particular.

In regard to the current commission of investigation, there must be an end to the compartmentalisation, secrecy and disrespect surrounding the State's handling of mother and baby homes in Ireland and an acknowledgement that Tuam is only one of approximately 180 similar institutions. The victims of these institutions and their families should be treated with the dignity and compassion they deserve. It is essential that victims have their suffering acknowledged and for survivors to have full access to their own birth certificates and adoption files. If the State and this Government is being truthful about its desire to repair the past then the investigations must be forensically thorough, honest and public while examining these institutions, agencies and individuals.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all survivors and campaigners. In particular, I would like to thank Catherine Corless for her incredibly courageous and tireless work and commitment to exposing the truth of these issues so that we, as elected representatives, can carry the torch and fight for the justice all survivors deserve and so that we collectively, as a society, face our past and vow to end discriminatory treatment of women and children in this society once and for all.

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