Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much share the distress and disappointment of former residents of the mother and baby homes that we do not yet have a final report from the commission which we should not forget was established by the Oireachtas. None of us believed at the time that it would take as long as it has for the commission to do its work and issue its report. The commission is independent. The whole point in having a commission of investigation is that it is independent of government. It is not a creature of government. Therefore, I cannot answer questions on its behalf. If I was able to interfere in the work of a commission and answer questions on its behalf, it would not be independent and would defeat the purpose in having such a commission of investigation.

The commission has informed us that it has more work to do. So far it has interviewed 519 former residents. It wants to interview more and everyone to have his or her opportunity to be interviewed and his or her story heard. It has received new material which needs to be considered and a mass of documents - I am informed over 100,000 documents - all of which need to be considered properly. It tells us that it has adequate resources and that, notwithstanding the delay, will come in on budget. It has not requested additional resources, but should a such request be brought forward, it will be considered.

It is not the case that we must wait another year before anything happens. We will receive a comprehensive report on the burials. It is scheduled to be presented in March. It will give us more information on the burial grounds.

We have already taken a decision as a Government, a few months ago, that investigations will be carried out at Tuam, with a view to identifying, if possible, the remains of some of the children buried there to give them the appropriate burial they should have had when they died. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, working through the consultative forum, is drawing up proposals for how we might do something to assist and support the health and well-being of former residents while we await the final report.

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