Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

6 o’clock

I genuinely believe the Minister wants to do the right thing and I appeal to him now as I have done before. He is the captain and manager of this team and when things change, it is time to go back and talk to the team before coming out for the second half and tell them they are taking a different approach for a better result. I spoke to many survivors and adoptees over the last week. My phone has been hopping. They are disappointed in the report. I spoke to good close friends of mine and as has been mentioned already, many things that people wanted to be in the report are not in it. These people did not speak to the commission for glory. They did this because they wanted to tell the truth. They wanted it out there so this would never happen again. While the report is lengthy and I am trying to get through it, there is not a lot in it that is shocking to me personally, as I have had experience of this issue for many years. Five or six years ago I walked into Bessborough for the first time for a memorial. I said to one of the survivors that the pink and blue balloons looked beautiful, and she told me they were markers for the boys and girls in those graves. That was a shock to my system.

There have to have been cover-ups because we have heard of them. Let us be honest here. It was the church, the State, the councils and the undertakers. They were all involved in this and it was not for the goodness or the health of babies. It was for profit. People were sourced out. So far, I have not seen a mention in the report about coloured babies. We have spoken about illegitimate babies but coloured babies were classed as mules. That is how they were recorded. There is a lot to be done. I ask the Minister to please not let this go. This is only the tip of the iceberg. We need to get some swift stuff going to start supporting survivors now because they do not have the time. The Minister should not let the investigation slip now because this is only the tip of the iceberg and much more has to come out.

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