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

Every country has had its dark moments in history. Most of Ireland's dark moments stemmed from 800 years of colonialism. Nevertheless, there were some dark moments that we created and sustained after independence. I specifically refer to the darkness of institutionalisation, mother and baby homes, the industrial schools and Magdalen laundries. I will not get into the commission on mother and baby homes, except to say those who are formally recognised to have been in the homes were invited, with their representatives, to participate in a consultation process in 2017. From that consultation process came the collaborative forum which was set up to support people in developing solutions to deal with issues of concern. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, secured Government approval for a charter to mandate the work of the forum and review and bring forward recommendations in three areas. One was information, identity and terminology, while another was health and well-being supports. The third was memorialisation and personal narratives.

The language of the charter regarding how the forum would conduct its work was it would be "participant-centred", there would be "consensus" and "consistent communication and meaningful engagement", and it would "ensure the specific and separate needs of different groups are identified". That was positive and promising language. It was built around the premise of nothing about us without us and it seemed to indicate a new approach to looking at this area of institutionalisation.

There was a selection process. Nineteen members and a chairperson began meeting in July 2018. There were five plenary meetings and 18 meetings of the sub-committees.

I know some of the members of the forum and, therefore, I know how difficult parts of the work was for them and how heartbreaking it was for them to relive that darkness in their lives but they gave 100% to the process. One of them stated: "We worked our socks off and we delivered a thoughtful, high-quality and authentic report."

The forum was also guided by a belief that its work, and the report, would be a significant contribution to the Government addressing all these issues. They produced a 90-page report containing significant recommendations. It was submitted to the Minister in mid-December 2018 but since then, it has sat on a shelf. It has not been published, there has been no movement on it and no engagement with the forum.

I have a number of questions. First, is there a date for the next forum meeting? Second, has the Minister decided on the new chair? Third, what progress, if any, has been made on implementing the recommendations? If those questions are not answered satisfactorily, the forum's work will have been in vain and it will have been only a talking shop with nothing meaningful coming from it.

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