Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

"After being freed from Bessborough, my life was made up of continual suicide attempts ... I could not accept how my baby had been allowed to die without any medical care." Those are the words of a survivor.

Many Irish women were deeply, physically and mentally hurt by the abuse suffered in the mother and baby homes. It is hard to believe that such injustice could ever have been so ingrained in society that it was perpetuated for decades on end. It is a stain on our society and we should use every opportunity to attempt to unwind the legacy. My fear is that the Government has lost sight of the suffering entailed in this episode and our responsibility to redress the pain that was caused in our name.

"Daily life was so bad that I attempted to run away twice with two other girls but they always found us and brought us back. On the second occasion we were caught by the police who returned us to the Convent." Those are the words of a survivor.

The State holds ultimate responsibility for what occurred in those homes. The State, in the guise of the current Government, has a responsibility to listen to the survivors of the mother and baby homes. They have told us clearly what they want us to do, and to ignore them is to underscore the injustice that was done. I know the Minister pronounces the legislative necessity of this matter, but to ignore the voices of the survivors is to inflict further hurt on those to whom we should be offering healing.

"I got the impression that the authorities close ranks on you when you try to obtain information." Those are the words of a survivor.

The survivors who gathered at the gates of this House for the past few weeks, often in lashing rain, have told the Minister, and all of us, that this legislation is compounding the mistreatment they suffered at the hands of the State. They have rejected the Government's amendments as insufficient. Has the Minister heard them?

There are ways to deal with the deficiencies of these matters. Deputy Kathleen Funchion and others have put forward amendments to the Bill that would do so. The survivors have begged the Government to accept those amendments. Has the Minister heard them?

"It was taken for granted that my son would be adopted and it never even crossed her mind that there might be another option". Those are the words of a survivor.

This should not be a party political matter. There should be a united determination in this House to right a historical wrong. That is what the survivors are crying out for. Why can the Minister not hear them?

What we have before the Oireachtas is rushed legislation, fast-tracked without adequate scrutiny and against the wishes of those who should matter most in this process, the survivors and those countless thousands of women and babies who were failed by this State over successive generations. These are the women who were locked up for the crime of being pregnant. These are the women whose children were cruelly taken from their embrace, never to be held by their mothers again. These are the women whose children's lifeless forms were thrown like rag dolls into septic tanks. These are the women who fought the combined forces of the State to ensure that their stories were heard. These are the women who were failed time and again. These women are pleading with the Deputies from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party not to fail them again. I ask the Minister, please, to listen to them as those who were previously in his position refused to listen.

"The level of insensitivity we experienced was shocking." Those are the words of a survivor.

The quotes I have referenced tonight are excerpts from the Clann Project witness testimony. The stories are harrowing, sickening and heartbreaking but they are part of a dark episode in our history. We do not like it but it is part of our collective story. It is a shameful part and we now have an obligation to play a role in unravelling the injustice that was perpetrated in our name. We have to amend this Bill in line with the wishes of the women who would not be silenced. I ask the Minister and the Government, please, to hear them.

See this speech in context