Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important Bill. I agree with all of the sentiments expressed in the context of those who have suffered most. To them we owe the most truth and that is the core of what I believe, as does everybody in this House. This is not just about one political party but all of us together, as Irish people and as Oireachtas Members. We all want to vindicate the rights of the people who suffered so greatly and abominably in the mother and baby homes together with the terrible and appalling vista that was visited on those children.

We can all be emotional and I am as emotional as anybody else in the Chamber. I am a parent and a grandparent and I know from my understanding what happened to some of those families, as other people here do. We all want the whole and all the truth. We want, most of all, the report of this commission to be published and to be available. We want in particular for the survivors to be satisfied and fully consulted in what is going to happen following the Second Stage debate. A darkness was at the heart of a great deal of what happened in our country after we achieved our freedom in 1922. There was a heart of darkness there and no soul or light. It was bleak, dark and appalling.

When the Oireachtas passed the legislation to allow this commission to commence operation, it dealt fully and comprehensively with all the issues raised by Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, and that we all raised here. Nobody is hiding from anybody here. I do not believe, in fairness to the Minister, that he is hiding either. The commission was asked to establish the circumstances and arrangements relating to the entry of single women, what happened to their children, to examine mortality among mothers and children, to investigate post mortem practices, to examine arrangements for the entry of children into these institutions, what happened to children who did not remain in the care of their parents, together with the extent of their welfare considerations, and so on. It goes to the heart of the role played by religious orders, civil society, the State, families, and partners’ families in respect of single women and their children, and so on.

Nothing will be hidden in this report. What is most important is that it is published. Putting all the politics aside, the Minister is saying that unless legislation is passed to allow this to happen the commission is legally obliged to redact all and every bit of the data it has, in other words, we will never get to the bottom of this issue. It is not beyond the capacity of this House for the Minister, the Taoiseach and the leaders of all the parties to get together and find a way forward that will allow the report to be published, the data to be protected and to examine the issues that seem to avoid us. I do not believe they divide us at all.

The Leader of Sinn Féin said that she supports privacy as an issue but she does not support secrecy. I absolutely agree with her but when we established the commission we said that it had the power to establish a confidential committee which could provide in its procedures for individuals to have their identity remain confidential during the conduct of the commission and its subsequent reporting. The commitment given legally by us as Members of the Oireachtas at that time was that the privacy of the individual would be respected. That is what we said must happen and that is what I believe is happening. Is that not the kernel of the issue? There should be no secrecy about that fact. Subsection (7) of the statutory instrument establishing the commission states:

In order to assist public understanding the Commission should provide in its reports an outline of the archival and other sources of most relevance to these issues and the nature and extent of the records therein, together with the challenges and opportunities in exploiting these sources for the purpose of further historical research or examination.

It is clear that the intent of the Oireachtas was that this issue would be addressed by the commission and in its report it is asked to report on those issues and how we might deal with them.

I do not believe there is any real issue dividing us. If it requires the Minister meeting all the leaders of the parties, with the Taoiseach and so on, he needs to do that. We need to get this right. The legislation establishing the commission is very clear. If the difference that divides us is about the privacy of the individual who was given a commitment that his or her name will not be used, that does not prevent publication. There is no secrecy about publishing it with the name redacted. That is not unfair or unreasonable.

Nobody in this House has a monopoly on caring. Nobody in this House, in opposition or in government, has the right to stand in the way of the survivors and their right to full transparency about what happened to them but it is in the context of the legislation established. It is not fair to say of the Minister, as some speakers said, that they do not trust him-----

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