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

Going back to where we are to date, the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters was established by the Government in February 2015 to provide a full account of what happened to women and children in those homes. Since then, we have had four interim reports: two in 2016, one in 2017 and one in 2018. The final report was due on 17 February last, but now this extension has been asked for. It further pushes out the process until February 2020. We are told it is to ensure there will be an accurate and comprehensive final report but the whole history of this matter has been one of delay after delay over many years. It is even a number of years now since the then Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, apologised to the ladies of the Magdalen laundries, who still face a number of outstanding issues. This is all related: the Magdalen laundries, the mother and baby homes and the industrial schools. It is the treatment of unmarried mothers that was inhumane. This included treatment by their families, the fathers of the babies of those unmarried mothers, many people in the clergy and many people in officialdom. They were not all unmarried mothers. One of the saddest stories I heard was of a lady I met who had been put into an institution by her father because his second wife did not want the children from the first wife living with them after that first wife had passed away. It is quite incredible to think Irish people could behave in such a cruel and inhumane way.

I must mention the mixed-race people because I was very privileged to meet them and it is so good that they are involved. Two of them are chairing particular groups. Their stories are even more heartbreaking because of the additional pain, trauma and stigma they faced, being from a mixed-race background. I found it a very humbling experience to meet them and others I have met in my time here. They have survived with dignity and compassion, and I think we all benefit from that experience and from their insight.

We know there are survivors who are extremely angry about the way they have been treated, and that anger must be acknowledged and respected. Now, to add to the exasperation already being experienced, there is further delay to people getting information, as they found out through the media that an extension was being sought for another year. Will the commission be looking for another extension this time next year? Perhaps an extension is really needed in order that all the information be available, but surely it is just a matter of courtesy that those who are most affected, namely, the survivors, would hear first and in an appropriate way of any extension. It should not have happened the way it did. I know that on 13 February, the Minister did express her sympathy with survivors' concerns that their ages and health profiles mean there is an urgency to resolve this situation. I hope this means there will not be any more unnecessary delays. Dr. Shannon has been asked what can be done with the current legislative framework in respect of collecting biological samples and safeguarding those samples. Eight weeks from now, before Easter, we should have that report from Dr. Shannon.

I am aware that the commission had a very extensive body of work in meeting former residents and those connected to the institutions being investigated. We know there are more individuals awaiting hearings, and they must be heard. Then there is the analysis of the documentary evidence, the cross-referencing and the forensic excavation of the burial ground at the children's home in Tuam. We were told the Departments of Health and Children and Youth Affairs provided a lot of material, but why was some of it received so late by the commission, with possibly more material to come? It is almost like a drip-feeding of information to the commission. It is hard to understand all the requests for the extensions and why an exercise was not carried out at the start of the process that would have come up with realistic deadlines based on the amount of work that was to be done and the expectations involved. The deadlines were never going to be met and they are still not being met. With each missed deadline trust is being eroded, and with each delay confidence in the process of realising justice has been seriously undermined. Then there is a question of the cost of each delay. Is there a costing of where we are to date with the extra delays? Are there further costs for staff and for the premises being used?

I acknowledge the invaluable work of Catherine Corless, in the discovery of the remains of 796 children in 2014, and that figure could be conservative. It is really hard to comprehend and envisage almost 800 children buried in the one area.

The excavations yesterday at Sean Ross Abbey indicated there may be 269 buried there. How many more bodies are going to be found? The campaigners' research would indicate that as many as 800 children may have died there. In the case of Bessborough mother and baby home, the register shows 470 infants and ten women who died there between 1934 and 1953. Behind each body is a real person with an identity, but that identity has been eroded. Apart from not having a life, even in death these people did not get recognition in the form of a plaque, a monument or a stone with their name on it. We have been rightly horrified by the mass graves in Rwanda, Bosnia and Syria. It is just so ironic, so incredible, that we are looking at a similar situation, similar graves, here in Ireland.

The Tuam Home Survivors Network has said, "Results from our ageing and, in some cases, frail membership should be banked to eliminate any delay in returning human remains to identifiable relatives for dignified burials." Those human beings were not given any respect or dignity in life, so surely the request for dignity in death and burial can be expedited. We are all very disturbed by those who would deny the Holocaust, for example. It is important we do not do the same here and deny or try to hide behind what has happened. Again, Catherine Corless's point is that our history is never forgotten. The relatives and the survivors are entitled to comprehensive information, and if they do not get it, that means that the ill-treatment, the mistreatment and the abuse continue.

I have a positive view of restorative justice. I have seen its effectiveness in the healing process. However, for it to have a chance to help or to heal, information is vital, and the information must be available. The question then is, can justice be achieved if none of the information being sought by the survivors is forthcoming?

People talk about closure, but I dislike that word. It almost suggests that the door can be closed on the past and the pain, which I find disrespectful. The pain can be eased, however, and it can be released but the experience will live with people for ever. The release and relief will come when those affected have all the information. We seem to have a terrible fear of acknowledging, facing or coping with the truth, not only in Ireland but also in other places. I am reminded of another group with which I am involved, namely, Justice for the Forgotten, which represents the victims of those caught in the Dublin and Monaghan bombings and their relatives. They have waited 45 years for the truth, as are the families of those who were killed in other atrocities in the Troubles. Authorities have sat on the information and the truth, which is disrespectful, indifferent and callous to the pain and heartache of those affected, who are waiting on the truth. While apologies, redress and financial payments are important, the truth is paramount. Nevertheless, this continued secrecy remains, whether in the case of the mother and baby homes, the Magdalen laundries or Justice for the Forgotten. The secrecy and lack of access to information and truth continues the abuse.

We might reflect on the Holocaust and how it has been remembered through memorials and preservation, whether in the Holocaust museums in Berlin and Jerusalem or the concentration camps, all of which face the truth. All the information is available and the victims' names are printed in order that people can see. For the same reason, we need a repository for all the records and an appropriate, dignified memorial. The most effective redress is access to information, which means not being afraid of the truth. That leads us to the subject of access to birth and adoption records. Some of those who had been adopted did not know, for various reasons, that they had been, some did not know from where they had been adopted, while the parents of others passed away before the information could be passed on and, therefore, no records were left. I acknowledge the work produced by the Justice for Magdalenes, the Adoption Rights Alliance and the Clann Project following extensive interviews and conversations with people who sadly had been separated from their family members and communities through an appalling system, which took children into institutions such as mother and baby homes and enforced secret adoptions and disappearances. It was such a blight on Irish society.

In reply to a parliamentary question I tabled, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, welcomed the Clann Project submission and the courage it took to provide the testimony. I had asked what would happen to the records and the Minister replied that it would be a matter for the prescribed Minister. She is supportive of transparency and the importance of the truth but those two words - "transparency" and "truth" - demand acknowledging the pain. That is more important than closure. It is an extremely dark aspect of our history and we cannot just close the door on it. We must acknowledge and recognise it. A suitable, appropriate memorial, which concerns the access to truth and everything that happened, would be fitting.

See this speech in context