Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that the Chamber and the Houses of the Oireachtas have approached this legislation and this type of question numerous times in the past. Those most vulnerable and in need of support have often fared poorly.

The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters was never meant to be an end in and of itself. Maybe there are those who hoped it would be. Maybe there are those who wished it never happened. There is no doubt that the commission in its terms of reference was far from complete or comprehensive. For example, in my county of Meath, the Good Shepherd Sisters Ard Mhuire home in Dunboyne was included in the work of the commission but the St. Joseph's and St. Clare's institution in Stamullen was not, despite the fact that we know it was a mother and baby home in every practical meaning of that term. Unmarried mothers were separated from their babies there. Babies died there. Some babies underwent vaccine trials there. Advocates estimate there were over 180 such institutions. Many survivors were excluded from the process.

In the conduct of its business the commission has refused survivors the opportunity to a public hearing. Then it made the case that there was little demand for such public hearings. In this way and in other ways the commission was not what it could be and not what it should have been. Despite that, it has done important work. It has compiled, collated, generated and gathered information. The sum total of its work will be made up of each component part and that is what it will leave. A report of 4,000 pages, or however many pages, based on the commission's distinct perspective and analysis, will not suffice and could never suffice.

In the first instance, the archive and records must be available to survivors. This is their wish and it must be respected. The records must stay intact and must not be sealed. They must not go to Tusla. The Minister has the power to make that happen. He can amend the 2004 legislation if needed, although I am unsure whether that is needed. He can retrospectively prescribe if needed - he is already doing that. The Minister should take this opportunity to put right these wrongs and show survivors that Ireland has changed. We stand ready to support him if that is what he wants to do.

Several of my colleagues have used this opportunity to read the words of survivors into the record of the Dáil. With my last few seconds I will do the same. One survivor who spoke to the Clann project on the subject of coercion and forced adoptions said: "In early February 1968, when my baby boy was six-seven weeks old, he was wrenched from my breast by one of the nuns whilst I was breastfeeding him and taken away for adoption." She made clear that "at no time did I give my consent to my son's adoption." Another said she was not given any other options. A survivor I spoke to said she did nothing wrong and her baby did nothing wrong. They did nothing wrong but they were failed and now is the time to change that.

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