Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What engagement has been had with church leaders on their respective contributions to the mother and baby homes redress scheme? What progress has been made on this matter?

Laura Murphy, the daughter of a mother and baby home survivor, penned an open letter to the Taoiseach, which was published online yesterday. In her letter she called on him to ensure that the Catholic Church contributes to redress and is brought into a meaningful process of truth, reconciliation and reparation. She called for all mother and baby home survivors to receive the redress that is rightfully theirs, including redress for all survivors and a State apology to those who were boarded out as children. The then Taoiseach told the Dáil in 2001 that boarded-out children were not cared for or looked after and often did not get their education. He also said that this was an issue that the Government could not ignore. Laura has now called on this Government to move from a space of retraumatisation to reparation, from abdication to accountability and from injustice to justice. Religious orders and the State had a direct hand in, and oversight of, the exploitation of such children, who were, in effect, abandoned to devastating exploitation and neglect within the families to which they were boarded out. Laura has made a really powerful argument for trauma-informed leadership and decision-making.

I really hope the Taoiseach will give Laura's open letter the consideration and the response it deserves.

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