Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The excavation of the Tuam site, the identification of victims and the dignified burial of remains will happen only because of the work of Catherine Corless, survivor groups, campaigners and their relatives and allies. Any attempts to intervene at Tuam and other locations have been resisted by governments and the State for decades. A rotten partnership between the State and the Roman Catholic Church perpetuated these abuses and actively opposed any form of accountability and justice.

The Tuam mother and baby home alliance was forced to protest again outside the Dáil today due to its disgraceful treatment by the Minister. It reiterated its call for the role of the coroner as prescribed in law to hold an inquest to establish the cause of death in compliance with international law. It is highlighting how the Act intentionally does not meet international human rights standards. It only applies in circumstances of inappropriate burial, but not in cases of unnatural or unexplained death in these institutions. Despite pleas from survivors and human rights experts and amendments from me and others, the Minister has created a law that would limit the number of possible interventions and the scale of any intervention.

The Minister told me this Act should not cover examinations based on unnatural death as that is the responsibility of the coroners and An Garda Síochána. He knows well this has not happened and will not happen. Coroners have still not been directed to investigate known mass graves by this and previous governments. Only public and international pressure at the horror of Tuam forced the then Fine Gael Government to act.

The uncovering of the truth, no matter how uncomfortable, must happen. The long history of abuse, forced incarceration, family separation, illegal adoptions and unnatural death needs to be fully investigated. We need a survivor-led transitional justice process. Unfortunately, this Government's treatment of survivors and disregard for their preferences offer little hope for the justice they seek and deserve.

The Tuam mother and baby home alliance also protested about other issues today. It cited the Minister's recent unilateral decision to "deny our members and those who provided testimony to the Confidential Committee, the opportunity to have those testimonies reviewed by an independent expert with a human rights background, as [he] previously promised." It is standard practice with this Government that survivors found this out by reading the work of Elaine Loughlin in theIrish Examinerand not from the Minister or the Department. It is disgraceful.

There is a clear pattern. Any progress comes after soul draining campaigning from a dedicated group of people and massive public outcry. When Government eventually reacts, it always reacts just enough to get a good headline and satisfy public attention until the news cycle moves on. Today is another example of this. The headlines will look for the Minister but what about the survivor and family protests? What about the failure to meet human rights standards? What about the mass graves that will never be investigated unless something changes? Our shameful history of State and church abuse and mass incarceration of young mothers, children, people experiencing mental health conditions and disabled people has left many locations of known and suspected burials. Academics and activists have charted the scale of unnatural deaths in mother and baby homes, county homes, industrial schools, psychiatric hospitals and other institutions. What about these victims and their relatives? Where is their justice?

I quickly came to the conclusion during pre-legislative scrutiny that this Act was designed to solely intervene in Tuam. While this is essential and welcome, many other sites across the country require methodical and respectful excavation. The Act is intentionally filled with barrier after barrier to prevent it being applied to any other location. The State does not want this issue properly examined. There is an aversion to giving survivors their information, allowing them to tell their stories and investigating our shameful past. The Government is committed to doing just enough to create very limited prospects for justice. If Government Members have convinced themselves they are doing the right thing, I inform them that they are not. Today is an emotional and welcome day for the survivors of Tuam and the many people who know or hope that their loved ones are buried there, but it is a grim reminder to many others that their loved ones buried in other sites will never get justice.

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