Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On the day of the Pope's visit, I have to confess I felt it impossible to attend the events in Phoenix Park. I wish the Pope and the people who were attending the events well but for somebody like me who has lived through much of this era, the pomp and circumstance in the park, when so many people's stories are incomplete, or in some cases totally unknown to them and their families, was not only hurtful but almost intolerable. I find it difficult to keep on having to talk about this. People who were in the homes have gone on to make their own lives, and very good lives in many cases of which they have every right to be proud because they overcame circumstance and went on to rear families and raise children, yet they still do not have full status in this country.

On that day I went to the Garden of Remembrance, a very appropriate name. I stood with the people who carried beautiful banners with a blue background simply titled, "Truth Justice Love". That is all that is required. There is no big politics in this. The politics of the people who defended the nuns and priests and the institutions at every stage is gone. Many people would remember them for all the good they did for many people, particularly those who worked in the institutions, local people who supplied food and bread and so on and sold stuff to the institutions. There were many in the community who knew a lot about it. That is our history. In the five years since Catherine Corless discovered the official records showing that 798 infants and children had died at the site of the mother and baby home in Tuam, we have taken a rather long road to this point.

Nonetheless I welcome the Minister's statement and I hope it addresses some of the issues for people who have lived to tell the tale and build their own lives but also for their families.

In particular I welcome that the remains will be exhumed, but the Minister should acknowledge that it may be necessary and appropriate to have some kind of coroner's inquiry into the deaths. These were Irish children like any other Irish person who has died. I realise the Minister is probably concerned about the cost. However, sometimes money is not that important and the amount is not necessarily that huge. In order to make a reparation for what was done to people in the name of Irish society down the decades, we need to acknowledge that many of the survivors' families want to see some kind of court proceedings.

I understand that the process of exhuming the remains and examining the site is very delicate archaeological-type work, but we have done that previously. Ireland supported the work on the mass graves in Bosnia, which are still being excavated. Modern technology has developed. We know of the searches being done for the disappeared. The Minister should be confident that this examination will greatly inform us and more importantly inform survivors, families and friends of the little babies who died. They died like flies, really, from neglect, although for a long time officials covered it up.

I commend the officials in the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, working with the registrar of births, marriages and deaths, who were very helpful to Catherine Corless when she commenced her long research. When I was told about it, I immediately complimented the staff on being so helpful. Deputies from the area will know that the staff went out of their way to ensure that whatever records were available were made available, which was important.

On the day of the Pope's visit we had the Truth, Justice, Love protest. That is what we want in all of this. We want to see it completed. In particular I mention Peter Mulryan, brother of the little baby, Marian Bridget Mulryan. We are given to understand that she may have died and was buried in that septic tank, which is a horrible thought for any family. Even if for decades Irish society deemed those children to be illegitimate, one only has to visit little cilliní at the top of mountains to know that was not the total Irish feeling. People did bury children who were outside the structures of the Catholic Church and still continue to visit those graves and honour them. The people in Tuam want to be able to properly honour all those children who died as well as the mothers who died in a way that we find appropriate in this day and age.

One of the problems for Peter Mulryan is that he does not know if his sister is really buried there or if she, in fact, had an arranged adoption to America. When I went searching for my records, I found it is a social worker-led process. By the time I went searching I had been elected several times to this House. I had also served as a Minister of State in three Departments, including the Department of Justice. I subsequently served in Cabinet. Yet, I have no legal rights to my records. I cannot demand my records. The Minister needs to come out and say I do not need a social worker. I know children who need a social worker, but I certainly do not, nor do many of the adults I know. We have no legal rights in this country. Such legal rights were given in Scotland about 50 years ago and much earlier in other jurisdictions.

I am glad for what has happened, but we need to get the complete story. This first step with modern technology should give us considerable information. However, the Minister needs to listen to the community in Tuam and to the families. As a society, we are obliged to go the whole way on the journey with them. I think the Minister needs to get off the fence and do something about the 50,000 other people who, in this country only, have no rights to their own records. We had the recent revelations about a couple of hundred people, whose births were wrongly registered, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. The Minister knows that, as do I and everybody else here. We know this from the stories we were told.

Going back to the American adoptions, one of the first things I was told was that I was meant to be sent to America, but for health reasons I was not fit enough. That is Ireland's gain and maybe America's loss. When I went to St. Patrick's Guild, the people there continually denied it. Then one day a couple of years later, when my husband was with me, out they brought something like a little trophy and said, "And here's your passport."

When the relatives talk about what they know or what they heard - some of it is pretty awful - a lot of it is true. We need to end this cult of secrecy forever, and just honour the dead and their families.

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