Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Deputy Whitmore, for her work on this motion. I thank all the contributors today.

First, I want to address some of the comments made by the Minister. He talked of full compliance with the requirements of the DPC. If there is to be full compliance, it is important that the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation be extended so the DPC can carry out an investigation. If the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation is not extended, there cannot be full compliance with the requirements of the DPC. This is an important point the Minister has not addressed.

Second, the Minister said it is not clear what the practical reasons for extending the term of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation are. In this regard, I must ask whether he has been listening to survivors? If he had been, he would be fully aware of the practical reasons for extending the commission. One reason is so the DPC can continue its investigation. Another is so that, where testimonies are not recoverable, survivors can seek a remedy under GDPR, as required by EU law. Yet another is that if survivors wish to seek a judicial review, they will be able to do so. They are entitled to this, and they are entitled to challenge the narrative of the report that contradicts the testimonies of many survivors.

Are we to understand from the Minister's comments that the Government, although not opposing this motion, will not extend the term of the commission? If so, that diminishes this Dáil. It will diminish our democracy if the Government does not oppose a vote in the Dáil in favour of the extension of the commission and then ignores that vote. That would not be acceptable. It would diminish both this Dáil and the wishes of survivors. Issuing apologies to survivors and then failing to act diminishes those apologies. Meaning must be given to apologies through actions.

After everything that has happened, survivors of mother and baby homes are still not being listened to. They are still being denied their right to their own information and data. Let us be very clear: survivors of mother and baby homes were not sent a copy of their evidence to check it for accuracy before the commission wrote its report. Survivors who were subject to gross and systematic human rights violations were not allowed to have a copy of their evidence and testimony to check whether they were recorded accurately. They did not have any access to the evidence coming in from institutions run by the State and church and were not given an opportunity to challenge it. Requests for public hearings were refused. Survivors are still being denied access to their own information and their own family files. There is simply no excuse for not giving people access to their birth certificates. People have a right to their identity.

At times, the commission's report reads as if the testimonies of survivors have not been heard. The executive summary of the report states there is no evidence that women were forced to enter mother and baby homes by the church or State authorities, yet the commission had testimonies from survivors indicating they were brought to mother and baby homes by gardaí. There is testimony recounting the involvement of social workers and judges. How is it possible, after everything that happened, that the commission could have drawn its conclusion in this regard? How could it not have heard and believed the testimonies of the survivors?

Furthermore, as my colleagues, Deputies Whitmore and Gannon, have said, the recommendations in the report state that survivors were not incarcerated, yet the commission had testimonies from survivors to the effect that they were locked into institutions and unable to escape, and also testimonies about girls and women who ran away but who were found and brought back against their will by gardaí. Did the commission not hear the survivors on this? It is absolutely reasonable that the commission, or any commission, be subjected to reasoned scrutiny, criticism and calls for accountability. The motion to extend the term of the commission by a year is about accountability. It is about survivors being heard. It is about survivors being given the time to question and challenge a narrative that has been foisted on them yet again by official Ireland - a narrative that does not speak truth to the reality of what survivors have lived through.

It is not good enough for the Minister to state that he cannot see any reason to extend the term of the commission. It is not good enough for the Government to issue apologies to survivors and then not to listen to them. It is not good enough for the Government to stand over this report or to remain silent on a report that does not reflect the testimonies and lived experience of survivors.

See this speech in context