Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That is a really difficult question to answer. How do we seek some degree of agreement or alignment among survivors on a site when there are clear differences as to how to proceed?

I will not lie to the Deputy; I do not have the full answer for her today. There are different groups of survivors represented in Tuam but I know from my engagement when I travelled to Tuam and met survivors there, that everyone is unanimous on the need to intervene because of the treatment of the remains of children at that site. That same degree of unanimity does not exist in respect of Bessborough. Particularly before undertaking the scale of intervention that will be undertaken in Tuam, there would have to be some effort to bring together a degree, perhaps not even consensus, but at least of an understanding among everybody in terms of the way.

As the Deputy says, there is a site that some relatives see as a burial ground and that they recognise as the graves of their children. For others, as the Deputy has so correctly identified, there are other family members who have no idea where their loved ones are buried after they died due to the treatment in Bessborough. Creating that degree of consensus is difficult. I do not have all the answers today but on the Bessborough site in particular, because the grave site is unknown, I absolutely recognise there is further work to be done to try to bring about that degree of consensus.

If I could state, with the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's indulgence, the special advocate for survivors, Ms Patricia Carey, is now in place. I might talk to her to see if there is any way we can advance that.

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