Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that the interim report is recommending further investigation into addressing the inclusion of those who have been excluded. I welcome that redress has been mentioned. This is obviously the reason we have had to wait seven months for it to be published.

I am concerned by the response of the Minister to the report and her claims that the focus of the report is on children who were unaccompanied by their mothers into the mother and baby homes and county homes. I do not believe that is the case. The report raises far more significant points. The Government's announcement of its unwillingness to examine the issue of redress is an appalling slur on the victims. Again, in the seven months the Government has waited to publish the report, probably many of these people have already died.

Redress was never at the heart of this issue. Over and over again, we never asked about redress. It was always about stolen identity, stolen lives and broken families. No amount of money can compensate for these things. The people concerned want an acknowledgement of what was done to them with the knowledge of the State. The report clearly states that the facts relating to financing gave the State the ultimate regulatory power, that is, the power to close the institutions. The State is responsible and we have to deal with it.

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