Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on this deeply sensitive topic. The mother and baby homes commission of investigation was a welcome announcement in 2015. The work of the commission to examine many aspects of the procedures in these homes and how they operated was needed, and it was imperative that its work proceeded without interference. However, almost six years on from the initial announcement, we are finally nearing the end of the commission and getting closer to the final draft of its report, but here we are with this issue on our hands.

The attempt by the Minister and this Government to seal parts of these records for 30 years is outrageous, underhanded and downright unacceptable. These women opened up about their trauma, gave heartbreaking accounts, and courageously told their truth, but what did that mean? Has the Minister ever truly considered that compassionately? It means that these women had to relive painful, harrowing and inhumane experiences like never before. It means that all that pain was brought to the fore and they had to unravel whatever coping mechanism they had developed from keeping such experiences to themselves for such a long time. It means that they have also been left in that space with their pain since they told their stories. I want the Minister to know that this has caused them undue and unnecessary hurt. How could anyone tell these women, our women of this island, that their truth needs to be locked away for 30 years? I believe that is a violation of their human rights and I know that is how it has felt for these women.

Many of these women are, in their own words, still broken today and suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, the fear of not being believed, and suffering through memories, images, raw pain and emotional damage, to name but a few. What these women did in giving their accounts to the commission was monumental, and I thank each and every one of them for going through that pain once more. I am truly sorry that they are going through this today. I also acknowledge that some of these women are no longer with us. That is heartbreaking.

These women were forced into these homes as if they were criminals. They were forced to work, and we can all agree that they were treated abysmally. We hear stories of how these women had their children taken from them, many never to be seen again. Some of those children never left these homes. Others were illegally put up for adoption without the consent of their mother. How did that happen? I am a mother of five children and I cannot comprehend the enormity of what that did to these women and the profound impact it had on them.

I do not need to tell the Minster about the horrors these human beings faced. I do not need to repeat their stories but I will do so. I want to take this opportunity to read them into the record forever. One woman stated:

We were made to work even if we were very ill, as I was. No excuses were ever accepted.

[My mother] was tied to the bed and when she couldn't push, one of the nuns sat on her chest to make her.

Those are just some of the stories. They are just a minute glimpse or a tip of the iceberg in terms of what was happening in these homes, yet the Minister wants to come into this House and attempt to seal these records and not allow the full stories of these people to be heard. What message does that send? What is being hidden? What is the Minister afraid of and who is he trying to protect? We cannot allow this Bill to be passed in the House. We cannot allow these records to be hidden away. These women have waited long enough for answers and they cannot be forced to wait any longer.

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