Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I fully support the amendment and I thank my colleagues for bringing it to the House. It is impossible to memorialise something if we do not know or agree what we are acknowledging and it is not possible to properly memorialise a site if we do not know what happened there. On Sunday, I attended a commemoration at the site of the former mother and baby home in Bessborough in Cork. It was a very moving and emotional event. It was also a very insightful event and an excellent oration was given by Professor Conor O’Mahony, the special rapporteur on children's rights. He clearly and clear-sightedly identified the manner in which human rights were dealt with in the evidence gathered in the very flawed report and how there was clear evidence of human rights breaches that were very considerable.

I met many of the mothers and some of those who were born in Bessborough and their relatives. There is still a lot of anger, concern and uncertainty. Many people believe, not without basis - far from it - that some of the many children who died in Bessborough may be buried on the grounds in a site that is yet to be located. The report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes found that 31 women died at Bessborough between 1922 and 1988, as well as 923 infants. The commission could find burial records for only 12 women and 64 infants, and the burial places of 19 women and 859 infants remain unknown. Their story needs to be told. The Government has a key role in establishing what happened at Bessborough. The Minister's Department has a key role in ensuring that the site is adequately investigated to find out where these mothers and children are buried.

There have been planning applications, which has stirred up a lot of emotion and anger due to the possibility there could be development on a site where children and women are buried. I want to put on record my own view that that should never happen. We must ensure such burial sites do not exist before anything like that is touched.

The recent applications were inappropriate and were rightly rejected by Cork City Council and An Bord Pleanála. However, it is not enough to leave this to the planning system. The Minister's Department needs to take a role here and establish what happened. The Government should commission a thorough investigation of the grounds at Bessborough. Survivors and relatives of those who lived and died at Bessborough deserve to have their concerns listened to. They must not be cast aside or ignored. That is why I fully support this amendment and hope the Government will also support it.

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