Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. It is so important during this debate to remember the gravity of it. We are talking about the worst human rights violations imaginable: missing children, enforced disappearance, illegal adoptions, incarceration and so much more horrific systematic institutional abuse. It is so important to remember that this commission was formed in light of the discovery of the remains of 800 babies and young children found in Tuam in unmarked graves and a disused septic tank. This is one of ten Irish institutions run by religious orders, to which approximately 35,000 unmarried pregnant women were sent.

What happened and what was allowed to happen was disgraceful. It is hard to imagine something even more disgraceful than that, but here it is. Instead of talking about what immediate action we can take to provide justice to those affected, we are talking about letting these documents be sealed for 30 years, denying survivors access to their own information.

This is contrary to the wishes of survivors, researchers and human rights lawyers and to recommendations of previous reports on institutional abuse, torture, rape, and forced adoptions. This legislation is also simply incompatible with EU law concerning access to personal information.

Can anyone even imagine any other scenario whereby crucial information about crimes of this magnitude, when no one has been held to account, would be sealed for 30 years? Justice delayed is justice denied. Many affected have already passed away without justice. If those records are locked away for 30 years, many survivors will be denied any opportunity to seek the resolution they deserve.

The State continues to treat this as a scandal to be contained rather than an opportunity to do what is right and to provide dignity and healing for survivors and their families. If what the Minister said is true, and he has no intention of keeping these files sealed then why on earth does he not just legislate for that now? The bare minimum the State can do after all of its failings in respect of institutional abuse is to at least consider what impact legislation such this may have on survivors. The sealing of archives by previous Governments, the gagging order and the hostile treatment of survivors by the State authorities on the whole have compounded the trauma for so many and now it is happening again.

That people deserve more is an understatement. They deserve access to their own information, compensation, justice in every imaginable way. Not only do they deserve it, it is their right. At the very least they deserve respect. To ignore survivors' pleas, regardless of anything else, to amend this legislation and to unnecessarily push it through these Houses without pre-legislative scrutiny disrespects them and is quite frankly disgusting.

I believe Deputy O'Gorman became a Minister to try to do good, I believe he knows that this Bill goes against that intention and I believe him that it is complicated and technical, but he is morally obliged to do everything possible to listen to the survivors. We will all support him in this. We do not want this to be a partisan issue. I ask him to please make the necessary changes and accept the well-researched and survivor-centred amendments to make this a law we can all get behind.

At this point, if the legislation is pushed through in its current form, the only question worth asking is: whose interests is he protecting? It is not those of survivors.

We have a history of staying silent and silencing people on these issues. When we do that, we hurt the thousands of people who have suffered. We live alongside these people every day.

I plead with the Minister to prevent further injustice for people seeking basic dignity and access to their stories. There is no closure without justice and there can be no justice if the State continues to protect everyone’s interests except those of the survivors.

See this speech in context