Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Today, we are deciding whether people who went through horrors we cannot imagine will be allowed to access information about how their lives were changed forever. That is not right and should never have been necessary because what happened in this country's mother and baby homes should never have happened. It did happen, however, and was allowed to under the eye of successive Governments. It is a stain on this country's conscience and can never be undone. We can never change what went on in these institutions - we cannot change the course of history - but we can change how it is preserved. We can ensure that the records of the past are accessible, not hidden, and that those who were subject to unspeakable injustices can access an account of their history.

I have had the privilege of speaking to survivors of Sean Ross Abbey and working with them in Roscrea, County Tipperary, such as Teresa Collins and others, and I salute each one of them. I also want to recognise those who did not survive. Figures given to Tusla by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in 2011 alleged that 269 babies had died in the home. That figure is nowhere near the real number; the State register shows that 1,024 babies died there. This is the value of archived material. It was also revealed that three quarters of the babies and children up to the age of seven who died in Roscrea over a 36-year period died at Sean Ross Abbey. Some 455 children are recorded as having died of heart failure and 128 from malnutrition. The resting place of the others is unknown and more ground scans are needed in that area.

Sean Ross Abbey was a place where children were taken from their mothers, in some cases before the mothers could even hold them. Other mothers were given no choice but to sign away their newborn babies. It was a base for baby trafficking and, as I have described it, human trafficking. Lives were forever changed and, in some cases, destroyed. We cannot cover that up. The Clann Project contains accounts of how forced adoption has impacted so many lives since. One person said that as they grew older, they felt a sense of loss within them in that they did not know their true origins. The person said they felt very lonely and that all their life, they were nothing like their adopted family.

None of this happened in isolation. Light needs to be shone on the role of the State itself. How were the adoption documents allowed to be falsified? Who allowed that and signed off on it? Where did the money that changed hands go? According to former residents I have spoken to, it did not go into Sean Ross Abbey. This all points to how vital it is to enable access to this valuable archive.

I turn to the issue of transferring the records to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. A survivor told the Clann Project that the agency had been obstructive in the past, refusing access to a large volume of information. The person stated that without a birth certificate, they were able to find their mother on their own but that this could have been achieved much more quickly with more efficient assistance. If the records are sealed, we will be depriving people of the truth about themselves. What is the Minister's view on whether the statements of the religious orders will be kept in the same archive or whether they will be separate?

The Bill is flawed. The Minister proposes to extend the commission's work to find out whether witnesses want their records to be kept private. If he can do this, why can he not extend the discussion to allow a robust debate in the House? He is still intent on transferring the records to Tusla, despite the opposition of survivors and campaigners. Sinn Féin's amendments seek to ensure that the database and records will be retained by the Minister. The general data protection regulation, GDPR, does not prevent this. The amendments will also provide that an appropriate and anonymised index of the records be brought to the Oireachtas within four weeks of the commission's report having been presented to the Minister.

I have been told that if the records are put out of reach, the survivors will speak out and tell their stories. I appeal to the Government not to allow the records to be sealed and transferred to Tusla, nor the victims of these institutions to be silenced or abused any longer.

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