Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The commission of investigation process has huge merit and can deliver. Everyone hoped it would deliver. From previous forms of investigations and tribunals that cost a lot of money, ran on for years and so on, we know that this was an alternative way of doing it that would be more succinct, that would hopefully get to the point more quickly and that would cost less. It held all that promise. Now, after the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, many people have lost confidence that this can happen. There is a reason for that.

Some of these unfortunate women in my constituency who went through the process discussed it with me. They spoke about how they had great hope and told their stories honestly. They had terrible, harrowing stories about being in mother and baby homes, about the way they were treated, about the stigma that was attached to them for half their lives and about the way they felt that society, the State, the church and everyone else treated them, which was so badly. They had hoped that something different was finally going to happen and that they would be listened to. Then the report came out. They looked at the contents, which did not match what they had told people. Then those who produced the report said, "Sorry, we cannot talk to anyone about it", and walked away. Yet, they leaked parts of the report and went to the media with bits of it. There was all sorts of completely inappropriate behaviour.

We expect the Government to embrace the idea and the proposal we have here and to recognise that we have to restore confidence in the process. That is what this Bill is about. It is about compelling those who produce these reports to stand over what they have produced such that they have to be scrutinised on them and have to have a certain level of accountability. That is not in any way second-guessing their independence, their stature, their ability or anything else. It is simply asking them to be accountable to the Oireachtas, which has responsibility for seeking these reports in the first place.

I hope the Minister will recognise that we are acting in the best of faith and that we are not here to try to hit the Government over the head about this matter. We are trying to get a solution to a major problem for the victims of the mother and baby homes calamity that occurred in this country. We also wish to ensure that there will be confidence in future commissions of investigation, that they will be done right and that those who run the process will do so with the best of intentions and come out at the end of it and be held accountable for what they produce. That is in everyone's interest. In that context, I hope the Minister will accept the Bill before us and that we will go ahead. If there are some small issues in it that need to be changed or tweaked, we can talk about that on Committee Stage and work our way through it. In general, however, the purpose of the process we are setting about here and the proposal we have put forward is to remedy a situation which everyone from every part of society recognised was a problem. Let us try to deal with that problem together.

See this speech in context