Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for giving some clarification on that. I note that they have had success in Northern Ireland in encouraging people to come forward. Unfortunately that is not our experience in Ireland. It is not the experience of Dr. Mark Coen and what he found on the grounds of the laundry in Dublin. I know from the McAleese report that the Magdalen laundry in Galway distinguished itself by an absence of documents, along with another laundry, the name of which I cannot remember. The two were singled out for an absence of documents. The documents will provide invaluable information and they would have provided invaluable information to Senator McAleese at the time as well, so he might have formed a different opinion as to whether the laundries were making money. He decided they were not there to make money but there were no documents. The documents had gone to the Bishop of Galway. Does the Minister understand? I do not know how many reports I have read at this stage in my political life in respect of this: the Ryan report, the McAleese report, the mother and baby homes report, not to mention all the others. I have not seen any religious organisation come forward on a voluntary basis and say "these are our records." Clearly, those records will give us a much better understanding of what was happening and whether money was being made, just to mention one aspect.

The clarification for the national director - he or she can issue a request for a statement. How do they issue that? What leads them to making that request? What are the circumstances or criteria that will lead to that? When this is passed, does the Minister expect the various bodies, not just the religious organisations but the other bodies, to come forward with their hands up and say "we have all of these records, we need help here from the director or the Government"? Is that what he is expecting? I am certainly not expecting that but maybe I will be surprised. If that does not happen, how do we know they are not being destroyed or are not already destroyed? That might be an impossible question for the Minister to answer. I am trying to tease around it. If the records are there and available, would it not surprise the Minister that they have not come forward in the meantime, particularly after the mother and baby homes report with its recommendation and conclusion, however delicately put, that we might ask them to give us the records? What resources will be given to the national director, and can the Minister provide clarity about when that request might be given and to whom? How will they know who to give it to? Will they work from a list? What are the criteria? Will there be regulations?

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