Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to thank the Social Democrats' Members for tabling this motion. Unfortunately, they should not have had to do this. We are coming back here time and time again. My colleague, Deputy Funchion, tabled a motion some months ago quite similar to this. We keep coming back to the same issue, which is that this legislation is exclusionary. Even at this stage, we are excluding people. We have to stop and think what we are doing. When some of these horrific things were done to these children and mothers, some people can proclaim that they did not have full knowledge so they did not know. However, now we have the full knowledge and we know what we are doing. We have to go back and do this right.

The particular thing that sticks in my neck is the fact that we are saying that babies under six months of age do not matter and what happened to them in those six months does not matter. Yet, we have all kinds of evidence now and everything else to say that the first six months, and even before that, of a child’s life is crucially important. What happened to these babies in the first six months of their lives is important. We need to stand up and acknowledge that it is important. We need to show how important it is by doing the right thing in this situation. It is crazy; it is just six months. Why not seven, five or eight months? It has to stop here today. I hope that the motion will have the effect of stopping that. It is past time to respect all of the mother and baby home survivors and their families.

The people who are watching this debate today who spent less than six months in these institutions are adults now. They are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandmothers and grandfathers. They all have children as well who are impacted. We have an intergenerational impact from what has happened to these babies. That is why we have a responsibility. Those are the ones who survived. When we talk about this, we always have to remember the ones who did not survive, such as the 796 children who died in Tuam and whose lives were taken away. We have to remember them.

I want to acknowledge Seosaimh Mulchrone from Aughagower, Westport, County Mayo who was born in a mother and baby home and has climbed Croagh Patrick seven times this year to remember those children because he needed to make sure that they are not forgotten and the suffering that they and others went through is not forgotten. Of course, none of us would be where we are without Catherine Corless and the wonderful work that she has done and, indeed, others who are carrying that on, such as Valerie Jennings in Mayo. I just want to acknowledge what they have done as well.

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