Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate. I often drove by a former mother and baby home in Castlepollard in my county. Ignorantly, I never really thought deeply enough about the history associated with buildings like it. Mother and baby homes were large, prominent places. Like industrial schools, Magdalen laundries and mental institutions, they were where Ireland hid her unwanted in plain sight. What could not be seen behind those walls was the hurt, humiliation and abuse inflicted on so many. Inside the institutions, those experiences, while not universal, were definitely widespread.

The leaking of the report of the commission of investigation, before it was subsequently published, was partly a continuation of that hurt. In plain sight and in a considered act of contempt, the report was leaked to one media outlet before it was shared with survivors. That was wrong and the person responsible should be identified and sanctioned. When it was shared with survivors, it was provided electronically only. Again, this was wrong and I do not accept that a hard copy could not have been provided to each survivor. I understand that efforts are now being made to do so. There was a conspiracy involving at least one person in leaking the report. There was none in the manner in which it was shared. Very simply, official Ireland, with a thoughtlessness that was inadvertently cruel, treated it as just another business document and proceeded on a business-as-usual basis.

For those who survived these institutions, and for the memory of those who died in them, the commission's report was not business as usual. It was the story of their life and of their death.

On my behalf I apologise to them for the events of the past ten days. I share their anger and distress. Survivors deserve better from those of us in government. Politicians are not an annex to official Ireland. Our vocation is to lead by challenging consensus and doing things differently and better. On this occasion we failed, and that is unacceptable. It is an irony, having historically established a consensus that shuttered people by their tens of thousands - people who were abandoned at their most vulnerable - that we would re-enact by design and default those same attitudes today.

Much discussion during the past week has been about where blame lies. Unfortunately, the role and responsibility of individual families in this dark part of our social history cannot be wished away. The role of the fathers - the men who fathered the children - cannot be wished away. I will leave to historians the complex circular conversation about where, between the prevailing popular culture, the unjustified power of the Catholic Church and the political responsibility, the ultimate cause lay. The truth I want to speak about today is the responsibility of the State, on behalf of all the people, to step forward now. I am certain responsibility for what happens next lies with those of us in government, with those elected to the Dáil and with our leaders in the church. The concern in government and for all Members of the Oireachtas must be about what we do next, how quickly we can deliver on the comprehensive range of supports identified by the commission and how sensitively and appropriately we can do so.

Countless apologies from men across the House may run shallow in the ears of the survivors, but I must add my voice to them. I too am sorry.

As members of the Government it is our duty to make life better for survivors. That can only be based on a real relationship of respect. This respect begins by truly listening to our survivors. We have a duty as a Government to explain in detail how we will advance the rights of survivors to their own information. I am delighted the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, whose sincerity is not in question, has confirmed that this is now possible. This must be immediately advanced. In parallel, deep thought and appropriate resources must be provided for facilitating contact between children from the homes and their parents. Survivors must have access to their testimony to the commission. An appropriate forum should be provided for those who wish to put on record their dissatisfaction with the commission's report. Mothers from the homes must have access to their files. A system of compensation must be brought forward quickly.

Irish history has long been his-story. Women were and remain completely absent from all decision-making roles in the Catholic Church. They were almost as absent from the deliberations of the State. As a practising Catholic, I am deeply ashamed that such a system could exist, let alone be inflicted on the vulnerable in the name of mercy. I say as much today not in my name, or in the name of my neighbours who I meet at Mass, or in the name of priests and nuns - now old and few - who have served and continue to serve faithfully and compassionately. We live in a society where half of our population still face pay discrepancies and difficulties in accessing healthcare, access to work and access to childcare. They are considered as token candidates on a ballot paper. They face a litany of targeted, gender-based abuse on social media. They are not part of the decision-making process on areas that have a direct impact on their lives. They are not fully part of decision-making processes full-stop.

I genuinely believe our apologies today are futile unless we learn from these mistakes. The time for words has seriously passed and it is time for action. Unless equality is truly achieved and the rights of women, men and children are respected equally, we will have failed. Unless we have equality in our governance, in the boardroom and in our institutions of faith, then we are not truly sorry.

I know I cannot speak for the church today, but I truly believe the time has come for the church to recognise women as equals. The report, welcome but flawed in some respects, does commit to a comprehensive range of supports. So too had previous reports but they have remained at best partially implemented. There is a justified sense by some that little will change. Our task in government is to realise that and act on it. Things can change and it is our job to make sure that they do.

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