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

This week we learned that the religious orders involved in mother and baby homes have no intention of contributing to the redress scheme. The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, continues to stand over the flawed commission's report, which absolved the church of any responsibility. The State and church perpetuated some of the worst human rights abuses in our history, including illegal adoptions, illegal vaccine trials, mass graves and the abuse of children. The Government remains deferential to the church instead of pursuing it to offer some form of compensation to survivors. We also learned the Government's redress scheme will exclude many of the survivors, no doubt with input from the Minister's Department, which was more concerned with costs than justice. The Government is intentionally giving as little as possible to as small a number of survivors as possible, while allowing the religious orders that profited from these crimes off scot-free.

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