Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our response to the publication of this report must be constructive and based on the views of those who matter, namely, the survivors, those adopted through these institutions, their families and their advocates. The report goes some way to giving voice to the histories that have been hidden to date but it is by no means an exhaustive account. Survivors have described it to me as rushed, incomplete and unrepresentative. Many aspects of the investigation were either inconclusive or were not adequately followed up on. For example, based on my discussions with survivors, I spoke in the Dáil about money changing hands for children. At that time, I called it human trafficking and I still claim that to be case. As was acknowledged in the report, a full account of financial transactions or a money trail could not be given. For Sean Ross Abbey, records of deaths, births, admissions and other registers were made available to the commission but there was an absence of financial records. A money trail could have informed survivors better about what went on in this institution and about themselves and those they lost. Like other aspects of the report, this should have been more thoroughly examined with the congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the local authorities concerned and the records of the relevant Departments. This investigation must continue without delay.

The testimonies of the women concerned, as well as those of local communities, should also have been treated with the importance they deserve. Witness accounts of money changing hands for children, like so many other accounts, were described as anecdotal. This is an appalling under-representation of the importance of survivor's accounts. There are also concerns about how accurately some of these testimonies have been reproduced in the report. Again, this requires further investigation and accountability where needed.

Many questions have been raised here today by Members across the House and every effort must be made to fill those gaps in our knowledge through further consultation with survivors and ongoing investigations. For example, the chapter of the report on excavations at Sean Ross Abbey clearly notes:

The total number of infant deaths which [are] recorded as having occurred here are 1078. Without complete excavation it is not possible to say conclusively that all of these individuals are buried within the present site of the Children’s Burial Ground. There may have been dense concentrations of burials in other areas of the site that were not excavated.

This is clear evidence that the Government must order new scans of that site and act quickly in shining a light on the many other unanswered questions for institutions raised elsewhere in this report.

The publication of this report does not wash the hands of the church or the State of their involvement in these decades of injustice, patriarchy and discrimination. It only confirms that they are bound to provide further transparency about these years. They are also obliged to address these wrongs through an examination and acknowledgment of our past. Our survivors have been ignored and let down for long enough. They cannot be failed any more.

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