Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Following on from Deputy McDonald's comments on the mother and baby homes report, I also request a full debate and not just questions and answers. The Taoiseach has spoken about this as if it in the past. It is not in the past. I spent two hours reading the report and I will go back and read it in detail. The report states: "The Commission is surprised by the lack of knowledge about the burials on the part of Galway County Council and the Sisters of Bon Secours." That was published just today. The affidavit sworn in respect of Castlepollard, Sean Ross and Bessborough by the congregation "was, in many respects, speculative, inaccurate and misleading."

I could give many quotations but I will not in the interest of brevity. I will just state again this is not in the past. It is the present where the commission has to use discovery orders and is surprised at the lack of knowledge and the failure to hand over documents. I ask the Taoiseach to please stop talking about this matter as if it is in the past. Let us get this issue into the Dáil and have an open and frank debate. That debate should not just be on the bodies hidden in sewage in chambers under the ground but on knowledge that has been hidden as well.

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