Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mo chuid smaointe inniu leo siúd a chaith am i dtithe na máthar agus na leanaí. Inniu, cuimhnímid orthu go léir. Is córas drochíde agus díghrádaithe a bhí ann. Tá an Taoiseach tar éis leithscéal a ghabháil ar son an Stát, ach tá na chéad chéimeanna eile ríthábhachtach.

Yesterday was a day of mixed emotions for the survivors of mother and baby homes. After five years, the report of the commission was finally published and it was a very long process from which many survivors and their advocates felt excluded and ignored. Still, there was slight hope that publication of the report would bring truth and real accountability but for many those hopes were dashed. Sadly, many survivors are upset, deflated and angry by some of what they have read in the report. The assertion that there were no forced adoptions, that there exists little evidence of physical abuse and the overarching attempt to shift responsibility from the State and churches has left survivors shocked and some outraged. They are equally furious that, still, barriers to accessing basic documentation, including birth certificates, are placed in their way by the State. This circling of the wagons only adds to their trauma and exacerbates the failures of the State.

The purpose and the power of testimony is that it is given to be believed but many survivors feel that they were not heard and they were not believed. They know that they were coerced and forced to give up their children. They know that they were physically and mentally abused and whatever they read, they know that the State and churches are responsible for the violation of their most basic human rights.

It is plainly untrue to suggest that the whole of Irish society is responsible. That is a distortion of history. The truth is that these crimes were perpetuated by a reactionary Catholic church and a confessional State. Those in power outsourced their responsibility to the religious orders, the churches and to Protestant churches also as we know from the accounts of survivors from places like Bethany Home. This was done by the powerful to those who were vulnerable so any idea that we did this to ourselves is deeply insulting to victims and survivors and it is, frankly, a cop-out.

We know that the death rate of children born in these institutions was multiple of the infant mortality rate in Ireland at that time. Nine thousand children died in the 18 institutions covered by the report and as horrific as this is, it is but a glimpse of the true horror that would have been uncovered had the investigation received a wider remit to capture the vast network of institutions involved in the adoption system, all on the watch and with the connivance of and funded by the Irish State and successive Governments.

It is crucially important that provision is made for the excavation of sites at former homes throughout the State. Many women and families know that their children and relatives are buried on the grounds but they cannot pinpoint exactly where so these mothers must be afforded the human dignity of reclaiming the remains of their children to ensure they can also claim ownership of their individual stories and experiences.

Now is the time for State and church as perpetrators of these abuses to issue formal apologies and take responsibility for the horrific violations. I suggest that a good and perhaps an appropriate point for the current Administration to start is to afford the respect and dignity due to single parent families who as we know to this day remain marginalised and poor and are often regarded as the low-hanging fruit when the budgets get tight and the so-called tough decisions have to be made.

There has to be full redress and compensation and the rights of survivors and adopted people to access their own information must be realised. The importance of that cannot be overstated.

We would not have reached this point if it was not for the dedicated and selfless actions of countless people, survivors and advocates. Niall Meehan's work in uncovering the deaths and the mortality rate at the Bethany Home was landmark but it is to Catherine Corless that perhaps we owe the greatest debt. She uncovered the remains of 800 babies in a mass unmarked grave in Tuam.

The lived experiences documented within the report amount to a devastating catalogue of heartbreak, misery and the violation of basic human rights so I want to acknowledge the Taoiseach's apology to victims and survivors today on behalf of the State. It is something that they have waited a long time to hear but it is not true to say that what was witnessed was simply a failure of empathy and compassion in Irish society, although God knows that is true.

More profoundly, it was an abuse of power. It was the ultimate abuse of authority. It was brutality inflicted on women and girls, and on the poor in particular.

The value of any sincere apology is always found in the actions that follow. In this, victims and survivor are crystal clear that they want meaningful action and they want to be involved in formulating the State's approach. A good starting point would be to address the fact that the work of the commission covers just 18 institutions, whereas the Clann Project submitted a list of at least 182 institutions, individuals and agencies involved in adoption, informal adoption and other forms of forced family separation. The apology today must be understood to extend to the women and children who went through all of these institutions, including county homes, children who were boarded out, often in circumstances of indentured servitude, and those who were illegally adopted. So far, successive Governments have refused to progress the detailed recommendations of the Mother and Baby Home Collaborative Forum. These, alongside the recommendations of the Clann Project, must be advanced. The Taoiseach must also deliver on his commitment to create the national archive of institutional, adoption and other care-related records while ensuring the proper implementation of EU GDPR rights by all controllers of institutional, adoption and other care-related records.

In addition to its moral obligation to survivors, the State has numerous human rights duties under international law, including access to social services and redress. This means a redress scheme that can be accessed without unnecessary red tape and that the age profile of survivors and families be taken into account. Victims have rightly pointed out that any complicated process would only serve to delay and re-traumatise them. Everything that happens now must be about acknowledging the full extent of the wrongdoing without qualification. A real duty of care from the Government is expected now more than ever. With this in mind, the deliberate leaking of parts of the report was a disgraceful attempt to manage this story. There is a very serious case to be answered in this regard.

The legacy of mother and baby homes is one of shameful crimes perpetrated against women and children by the State, the churches and other institutions. Women were abused and forced to work without pay. Children died of malnutrition, untreated illness and neglect. Some were used as guinea pigs in drug and vaccine trials. It is wrong to use the word "home" in respect of these institutions. A home is somewhere where one is safe, loved and belongs. These institutions were immoral prisons. There was no love, kindness or care. Our job is to ensure that the survivors now feel from us that love, dignity, and the protection of a real home. Modern Ireland must step up to the mark in providing what the Ireland of the past stole from them: the truth and justice, and the full protection and rigour of the law.

I want to conclude with the words of a good friend of mine, Joan McDermott, who was imprisoned in Bessborough for eight months. She was made to cut the grass of the grounds with scissors. Joan gave birth to a baby boy whose name is David. He was taken from her without her consent or her knowledge. She did not see him again for five long decades. She said:

When I saw my son for the first time in 50 years, he made the most profound statement. He asked me "mam, how old am I really?" He did not know how old he was. He had no birth certificate. He had never been abroad. He has a birth cert now. You and I take these things for granted.

For Joan, for David, for the tens of thousands of women robbed of their futures, for the children robbed of their childhoods, for those who died behind those high walls and iron gates and who were buried in unmarked graves, and for those who made it out and survived to tell the harrowing tale, let today, though imperfect and unfinished, be the start of the final length of the long road to justice. This is not over.

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