Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

This was the Ireland that was presided over by the men whose pictures hang on the walls of the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. It was the Ireland of Eamon de Valera, Seán Lemass, Jack Lynch and Charlie Haughey, and the Ireland of W. T. Cosgrave, John A. Costello, Liam Cosgrave, Garret FitzGerald and John Bruton. "What upset me is Micheál Martin blaming us - society," states Galway historian Catherine Corless. She is right to be upset. The Government's spin machine is emphasising the responsibility of the culture and the society. The spin machine is de-emphasising the responsibility of the church and the State, but who moulded the culture? Who moulded the society? The mother and baby homes were the product of a backward, reactionary, conservative society presided over by the State, the Civil War parties and the church. No amount of spinning can, or will, hide that fact. Today, in 2021, church and State still remain to be separated. One way to honour the survivors would be to completely separate church and State in this country now.

In 1943, 75% of all babies born at the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork, or admitted to that place, died. Where are their bodies buried? More than 900 babies died at Bessborough. That number does not include the babies who were stillborn. Where are their bodies buried? Is there a danger that some of these babies will be buried now, in the 21st century, beneath apartment blocks? Recently, a planning application was submitted to Cork City Council to build 246 apartments at Bessborough. The developers have not engaged properly with survivors, adoptees and local residents, who say the burial sites must be fully identified before any building can even be considered. The survivors regard the developers' actions as adding insult to injury, all in the name of profit. This development must not be allowed to proceed.

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