Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Teachta Ó Laoghaire, for sharing his time.

I wish to ask the Minister about St. Clare's mother and baby home in Stamullen. It was excluded from the investigation. A man who came to my clinic in Balbriggan two or three weeks ago is still traumatised and has still not recovered. He was born in St. Clare's. It was the site of vaccine trials. There should be no hiding place. Every mother and baby home should be investigated. For far too long, we have hidden our dirty little secrets. We cannot continue to do that. The man was almost broken. The refusal by the State to acknowledge what happened to him and help him in any way is not acceptable. When the Minister meets the delegation, as she has indicated she will, I urge her to meet also people who have been excluded. She should try to bring them into the process. We have failed them to date. The Government has failed them to date, and the Department is failing them. We need to bring those people into the process. The children in St. Clare's in Stamullen were the subject of vaccination trials. That is not acceptable. That is awful. If it were any of our children, nieces or nephews, we would want some process to deal with it. I urge the Minister to meet the people and hear their story at first hand.

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