Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

National inquiries are sometimes necessary to get to the bottom of wrongdoing. As well as being painfully slow, they can be cold processes as they plough through mountains of documentation and testimonies. The original Tuam babies inquiry was meant to last three years. Then it was four. Now we understand it will take five years to complete. Those affected by the scandal are frustrated beyond words. Many of them are elderly, while some have died. They want closure in order that there can be some resolution in this aspect of their lives.

As the Taoiseach knows, for nearly 40 years, the home, as it was called, was involved in illegal adoptions of children to America, as well as in the illegal burial of hundreds of children who had died in the home and been interred in a mass grave without proper funerals. They are the stark facts. We need an inquiry to identify what exactly was the role of the Bon Secours sisters and the extent to which State agencies were involved.

The arts are another way of providing us with a mechanism to understand and, more importantly, feel the emotional impact and trauma of the Tuam mother and baby home. In Dublin last week I attended the Stay With Me exhibition at the Inspire Galerie. The exhibition was of artwork created by people who had been moved by the Tuam babies story. Words cannot convey the depth and strength of feeling involved in the artworks. They give us a glimpse of how those centrally affected must feel. The aim of the exhibition is not to cause horror or revulsion but to show love to help people to come to terms with the terrible losses they endured.

I understand the inquiry needs to proceed to a fifth year. The Department of Health has apparently produced a new batch of documentation which needs to be examined. Why was it not forthcoming when all of agencies involved were asked to produce everything they had? The continued inquiry may be necessary, but that does not mean that those affected should have to wait another year for some resolution. Do we not have enough evidence to show that there was wrongdoing? Will the Government agree to provide redress for those affected, many of whom are elderly and deserve our compassion and a resolution to ease their pain as far as we can provide for this? If we do not act now, for some it will be too late. It is already too late for those survivors who have passed away in the four years since the inquiry began.

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