Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am really getting weary with the delay and, in some ways, the excuses. If I feel like that, God only knows what the survivors and those for whom this is a lived experience are feeling. We must ask ourselves why were these delays not anticipated and what are we doing to put the resources in place to ensure there are no further delays. Over the past period there have been many nice statements, announcements and speak of consultation, but are we really hearing what people are saying? Are we really addressing the basic needs on which some people have sought redress, such as access to basic housing, health issues and access to records? It has not been there for many people.

One of the critical matters we must register today is the genuine fear with respect to the age of some of the survivors and how they cannot take a further delay beyond next year. We need an assurance that it will not happen. We must also be cognisant of the very sharp criticism of the Ombudsman recently on the State's application in the Magdalen redress scheme. He was extremely critical of the way in which women's real experiences were not listened to, an over-reliance on documentation, not hearing people out and overly complicating processes. I wonder if that is what we are doing. Some of records element is complicated but other parts are less so.

We must have a starting point in saying that much of the information is not new. I do not mean this in a disrespectful way but it is more than five years ago that an internal Health Service Executive document in 2012 revealed what it called a wholly epidemic level of child death in Bessborough, with 472 children recorded as dying between 1934 and 1953. We know from the excellent work of Mr. Conall Ó Fátharta at the Irish Examinerthat the HSE was given files in 2011 containing the names of 800 children who died in Bessborough and Sean Ross Abbey. Incidentally, both of those sites are for sale currently. We know from the campaigning work of people like Mr. Derek Leinster the figures and names of children who died in the Bethany Home. These facts were established before Ms Catherine Corless did her Trojan work in Tuam but nothing was done. There was no investigation until Tuam took the headlines. In some ways we are playing catch-up but we must very clearly say that this is not about one site and there are multiple sites. There is an experience of people that cannot be divorced from the treatment of women in society.

I received an email from one of the babies - he is not a baby any more - who was born in one of these institutions. He describes the mother and baby homes as generally a cross between a maternity hospital with no doctors and nurses and a low to medium security prison. That is what they were and society knew about that. We have major responsibilities to address these outstanding matters. We have very limited time but the lack of sensitivity in some ways of dealing with these cases beggars belief. Galway County Council approached consultation with the survivors and their families by giving out a tick-box form; it brings a whole new meaning to a tick-box exercise. As it concerned dead babies, it was horrifically insensitive and at the very least, survivors need to be spoken to directly. I am concerned by the possibility raised by the commission that it may not get to meet everybody. I would like to hear that this could be addressed by extra resources or whatever it takes.

I would like to know what the level of co-operation is. There is the point about the order for discovery and the giving of some information. Was other information left out? Are we satisfied with the amount of documents made available? Critically, we need to factor in, if one likes, the lived and oral testimonies. We cannot lose sight of the fact that no one has been held to account for what happened to the children, many of whom died through neglect, while others were illegally adopted. That the issue of illegal adoptions is not included is regrettable. People who are getting older are looking for the truth and the identities of their loved ones, as well as justice and compensation, which cannot come too quickly. Will the Minister provide an assurance that they will receive whatever they need to get the job done without further delay?

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