Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This has been a very challenging and difficult time for the survivors of mother and baby homes. The publication of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation report has brought to light the hidden shame of a nation. Unfortunately, the report has failed to fully address or sufficiently acknowledge the wrongs done to these survivors.

The report has made some findings that are at variance with the accounts of survivors. It even contradicts survivors' testimonies. The proof anybody needed as to the nature of the mother and baby homes can be found in the survivors' testimonies. They are the witnesses to this dark period in the history of the State and the churches. Their testimonies have exposed how the State and the Christian churches allowed, encouraged and were complicit in what can only be described as the systematic cruelty, neglect and abuse of young women and their babies. Many survivors still bear the scars and open wounds of the psychological and physical cruelty they suffered in these institutions.

Based on the extent of evidence of survivors' testimonies it is undeniable that many of the babies born in these institutions were removed from their mothers without the mother's consent or even her knowledge. There can be no other conclusion than that this was being done with the collusion of both the State and its religious institutions. The mothers were forced to bear the incalculable and unnecessary grief of the loss of a child and many have suffered years of mental anguish, never knowing the fate of their children. The children lived for decades after their separation from their mothers, without the knowledge of who their biological mothers were. Those who sought out their mothers' identity found that every State and institutional obstacle was put in front of them to deny them this basic knowledge.

We must not now add to the grief and pain of the survivors of these institutions. We cannot compound their suffering or retraumatise them by an inadequate State apology and a defective report. The survivors have courageously opened their hearts to the commission, not only to let others fully understand the horrors they endured, but also in an attempt to find some form of justice. The survivors will never have closure or a path to justice if the State negates the realities of the abuse they suffered. The State has failed them once before and it must not fail them again.

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