Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak. I commend the commission on its work. However, I am very concerned about the delays. Many Members have referred to victims, but in my eyes they are also heroes for standing up and speaking the truth. More importantly, they are heroes for seeking the truth. What sticks in my craw is that there appears to be delay after delay.

Another Deputy mentioned torture. I can tell Members personal stories. A very good friend of mine was almost nine months pregnant when her job in Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork was cutting the grass at the front of the home on her hands and knees with a scissors. It took her 45 years to find her son. Too much has been covered up. There are problems with obtaining records and so on. One would have a better chance of emptying the Red Sea with a bucket with no ass in it than getting information. There are other issues.

I do not have a lot of time to speak but I strongly recommend that when the final report is published, a redress scheme be put in place.

It has been stated that the issue is one of money. I do not mean any disrespect to the Catholic Church or the Pope but if the Government can cough up €20 million for the Pope's visit, surely it can also look after its own people. What the church and State did to survivors, victims and their families is atrocious. I could use other words to describe this legacy but it would not be appropriate to do so in the Chamber. I cannot stress how tough this is for survivors.

I will give another example of a good friend of mine who was forced to face a wall while breast-feeding her child. She did not know why she was being forced to do so but she found out afterwards when the child was taken from her breast. It was then that her 45-year struggle commenced. This was atrocious behaviour. We would not do this to an animal. I appeal to all Deputies to reach a consensus on the need to at least recognise what the victims endured. We must not allow more of them to die. As Deputy Gino Kenny stated, seven more victims have died since the commission of investigation began its work.

Capacity issues are preventing 39 survivors from signing documents. When will the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act, which was introduced three years ago, be commenced? We are losing time and I find it insulting to have to tell survivors that my gut feeling is that the can is being kicked down the road. We would not do this to our parents or siblings. In that case, why should it be done to the survivors and victims? This makes me extremely angry.

With regard to the sites of former homes, there are rumblings concerning proposed development in certain areas. I am not opposed to development but these proposals should be thoroughly investigated. Three years ago, after attending an annual mass at Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork, I naively commented on lovely pink and blue balloons I saw as we walked towards the graveyard. Someone whispered in my ear that the balloons marked the site of unmarked graves for babies. That incident sticks in my craw.

If Deputies let down the survivors, we will not be fit to serve in this Chamber. Human beings cannot be treated like animals. The actions of the State and church in farming out children were disgusting.

I will refer briefly to another case involving a gentleman who returned to Ireland from Canada two years ago. He thought he was the only person in the world who had been extradited, so to speak, from the country as a child. It was only through social media that he found out about the mother and baby homes. Last year, he was knocked down and is now dead. He, too, was let down by the church, State and Government. Whatever happens, I appeal to the Minister not to allow another person to die.

We will fight this tooth and nail because the survivors have been let down. It is shameful and disgraceful. Next week, I will tell survivors that we hope to have good news. The least we can expect is that they and their families and friends will be treated with the utmost respect and an acknowledgement will be given that they stood their ground and told the truth. Their story is being kicked down the road and swept under the carpet in the hope that they will disappear. I do not want that to happen.

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