Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would make the point first that we know the difference the redress schemes have been making to many but there are criticisms of it, for example, the way people are engaged with and addressed and there are particular difficulties also for those living abroad.

I heard the reasons for the extension but it is very frustrating for those who have been waiting so long. The entire process on the industrial schools, the laundries and the mother and baby homes involving all the investigations, reports and commissions, with more to come such as Mr. Shannon's report, the involvement of the UN special rapporteur, the technical report with the five options and now the collaborative forum and the selection panels, reminds me of those gifts we used to get of the Russian dolls. We think we are getting one but we realise as we open it up that there are more inside. That is like the process we have had with all these particular issues. There does not seem to be an end for the people who have been waiting.

However, I compliment the Minister on the choice of chair, Mr. Gerry Kearney, who I know from his chairmanship of the Moore Street consultative group. I am aware of his managerial skills, his way of cutting through to the essential points and the way he validated and respected everyone's contribution. From what I experienced, I believe his approach will be collaborative, inclusive and will get the work done in a timely way. It would be interesting if he could draw everything together at this stage, including all those outstanding issues for some residents such as housing, counselling and access to records, and prevent them from being obliged to take the legal route.

I refer to one particular group of survivors who now are friends. I have met them over the years and continue to be in touch with them. They are the mixed-race survivors. While they share the issues faced by other survivors, they had the additional issue of colour, which meant even more suffering for them. Their issues have not been specifically addressed in previous reports. Their admittance files to mother and baby homes list their colour under the section, "Defects". Their own research and campaign, and the self-disclosures they have made, record so much abuse towards them, so many awful moments and far fewer adoption opportunities for them. The cruelty towards them in the homes was not just by staff but by other children also because of their colour. I am asking for specific places for them in the selection panel and on the forum. I am reminded of a little mixed-race girl who was murdered by her foster dad in the 1960s. She was described as "a waif and a stray and a coloured one at that". I believe race has to be part of the terms of reference.

The residents are vital, and I have to question the ratio of survivors to academics. The selection process in terms of the academics has to be widespread, well advertised and transparent. I acknowledge the work of Professor Jim Smith, especially regarding the survivors in the United States. The forum and the panels must give advice in terms of the banished babies and the unmarried mothers who emigrated to the US in order that they are part of the collaborative forum and the selection committee. That diaspora survivor community has to be included.

There is a need for space for the survivors from institutions not covered by the commission's 17 institutions, and that means including St. Patrick's Guild and the apparatus associated with it.

I find it incredible that there will be a voting procedure on the five options. In an email I got from one of the groups, a survivor whom I know stated: "Whoever in God's name or anybody's name was there ever a consultation about what to do with human remains. We are distraught." I believe this is a matter for the State, not for the local authority.

When the Minister was speaking she made the point that it is nothing about us without us. That is the point that must be valued here, namely, it is the survivors who play the strong and dominant role in everything that is going on. It is very important to try to draw a conclusion that there be no more commissions and no more investigations. We have had most of them and there is a need now to draw a line under all of that and get into what the survivors need.

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