Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all know that this State has a very long history. We had a society that was built around not giving adequate powers or protections to women and, beyond that, actually oppressing them. I accept that a significant number of legacy issues have fallen into the Minister's in-tray. I assume that others did not want to deal with them. We are at the point of redress and we all accept and support the need for a redress scheme, particularly for those who spent time in mother and baby homes. It is fair to say we are dealing with a cohort of people who have been absolutely failed over many years. Even in latter times we have heard about the testimonies not considered, the leaks and all the other issues which just heap pain upon pain. The fact is that we are dealing with a huge cohort of people who feel they have been betrayed and left to one side by the State. The fact is that a considerable number of people - I think it is in or around 24,000, probably more - now definitely feel they are getting absolutely no element of even delayed justice.

To put this into a general framework, on the back of two motions by Louth county councillors, namely, Sinn Féin's Joanna Byrne, as well as John Sheridan, Denis Cahalane wrote up a piece about Louth County Council's historic responsibility or involvement in the mother and baby homes. I will read out some pieces from the report.

Women from County Louth were placed in Mother and Baby homes throughout the country. It is impossible to state accurately how many of the mothers and children in homes were from County Louth. ... Information on admission practice is incomplete. Women would have been referred by clergy, medical and nursing personnel, public officials or family members.

That was done with the women having absolutely no element of power in their grasp. The report continues: "Many pregnancies arose from incest, statutory rape, or other exploitative situations." We have to accept that. We have to accept that a huge number of women were absolutely powerless. All did nothing wrong. Many found themselves in exploitative situations because of the huge power differential that was in society. The great and the good at best did nothing to improve that set of circumstances. We are looking to address this.

It is fair to say that the idea of removing from the scheme those people who were resident for less than six months in these homes just does not wash. We all accept that these people went through a huge level of pain. That is before we start talking about the failures by the pharmaceutical companies and the clergy. The Minister has the power to deliver what is a modicum of justice for these people, who have been too long without it. We all need him to do that.

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