Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, I missed the Minister's opening statement so I might ask questions that have already been answered. I congratulate her on how she has dealt with this. It is probably one of the best outcomes we could have hoped for. As well as congratulations being due to the Minister, huge congratulations are owed to Catherine Corless. There is no doubt that she has become a national hero for her work on this. I have noticed that there is a renewed interest in our history, particularly our recent history, among a lot of young people. Much of it is dark and concerns how the State formed after the War of Independence and the awful things that are emerging. There is a renewed interest in it and our population will keep an eye on how this progresses because people are quite passionate about that and where it ends up.

I understand, which is why I pre-empted it by saying I did not listen to the Minister's opening remarks as unfortunately I had something else to do, that the Tuam Home Survivors Network is calling for an inquest into the deaths and for the coroner to have a statutory obligation to do so. Perhaps the Minister could speak on that.

The striking issue is the cost, which should not be the case because it is worth spending the money regardless of the cost to ensure that we get full disclosure and the survivors and their families are satisfied with the outcome. The reason it is an issue is because of the paltry offer of €2.5 million from the Bon Secours order towards the overall cost of €13 million or so. It echoes the legacy the Catholic Church has given us and its recent failure to pay into the Residential Institutions Redress Board and fully acknowledge its responsibility. Of course, it was a responsibility shared with the State but the church seems very unwilling to share it in terms of actual pounds, shillings and pence, which in itself is not evidence of regret or full retribution but would go quite a long way towards saying it acknowledges its responsibility and its role in this and is going to meet the State halfway on it. All of us in this House should condemn the Bon Secours order for its refusal to do so, all the more so because the Bon Secours Health System is the largest private healthcare provider in the country and its profits over the past number of years have been enormous. In 2016, it recorded pre-tax profits of €5.4 million. It employs over 3,000 people and does so in a private health system that is basically propped by the public health system. That is what the Sláintecare report has told us and is one of the causes of the trolley crisis, bed blocking and all of the issues involving waiting lists. The private healthcare system cuts through that and allows medicine to be provided on the basis of who can afford what rather than on the basis of need. Rather than just seeing this as a piece of history, which it is, a fitting tribute to it should be the dismantling of the preference for private healthcare over public healthcare because we end up with understaffing in public hospitals, historic waiting lists and the trolley crisis in our accident and emergency departments. These issues are in no small measure due to the prevalence of private healthcare. These outcomes are not the direct responsibility of the Minister but they are outcomes the population would desire and this State should see as something we want to move towards. This is reiterated in the Sláintecare report.

Another outcome should be the separation of church and State. Everywhere we turn, the legacy of the combination of church and State in education and health is very prevalent. We still see the Catholic Church's domination of our education system and many voluntary hospitals. Many of us in this House, probably even the Minister, are concerned about the future of the national maternity hospital, which the State is giving over to St. Vincent's to build at a cost of at least €360 million. We still have not seen the final i's dotted and t's crossed on that contract and until we do, many of us will be extremely concerned about the genuine independence of the national maternity hospital from the ethos of the Catholic Church. There are many concerns that are indirectly connected with this report on the Tuam mother and baby home.

The main thing here is to remember the babies and show them the dignity they deserved. When we first spoke about this, it was the day after the then Minister for Finance opened the Bon Secours Hospital Limerick at Barringtons. I remember being outraged that the two things coincided, looking at the profits of Bon Secours Health System and arguing at the time that its empire was built on the bones of the dead Tuam babies. I still think there is an argument for what I said then but I think we need to remember the babies, children and the 79% who were recorded as having died in that facility during their first year. It is a shocking statistic that was way above any other mortality rate in any other institution or aspect of Irish society. The one thing this House can do very effectively is to continue to call on the Bon Secours order to carry at least half of the cost of the outcome. I look forward to the Minister keeping us posted as things develop with the excavations, reports and research. I say "well done" on the report and congratulate the people of Tuam and Catherine Corless in particular on the fantastic work they have done in memory of these people who were treated so cruelly by Church and State in our horribly dark past.

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