Results 1,501-1,520 of 11,729 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: In all its communications with me the commission have outlined what they believe are its rights and responsibilities. In the context of GDPR and data protection, it has said that it has acted in good faith in terms of what they did. I am aware that there are survivors who have stated that there is an issue around whether they were asked, in particular, for consent.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is difficult, again in the context of an independent commission, for me to make a judgment without having had the benefit of the sense of what the commission did in each individual situation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I have engaged with the Attorney General on what the commission did with the tapes. We are still going back and forth on that issue and we will continue to engage on it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: In considering that point, I and the Government need to take account of a range of factors that would result from any decision to extend the commission's lifespan. The biggest concern for me is the transfer of the archive to my Department. I have set out on a number of occasions how my Department has undertaken a very significant amount of work to prepare for the transfer of the archive, in...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Again, in the context of an investigation that might take place, in order for the commission to be able to respond to that investigation it would need access to the entirety of its files to be able to provide the sort of detailed responses needed. If that were the case and it still had access to its files, we would not have provided the archive and the commission would still be holding on to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: That is just one part of the archive.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator for the questions. Like her, I acknowledge the additional hurt and anger that these actions have caused to survivors. In terms of the actions that I, as Minister, and the Government might take now, foremost in my mind is how we can most benefit survivors. I believe we can do that through the provision of a well-resourced unit that can give them the access to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for the questions. On the second question dealing with the issues covered in the database legislation passed by the Oireachtas last year, my understanding is that the documents that are referred to and protected under that legislation are summaries undertaken by those who were listening to the personal accounts before the confidential committee. They are summaries of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I cannot tell the Deputy because all the operational elements of the commission are a matter for the commission. Neither me nor my predecessor could answer because all of those decisions on how the commission would operate were taken some years ago around the time of its establishment, I imagine. They would not have been shared with the Department or with my predecessor. That is the manner...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I believe potentially the right to rectification gives us an element to address this in the context of what is in the archive. I have set out in my reply to other Deputies how the wider story of what happened in these institutions can be reflected in the memorial and records centre as well as other actions the Government is taking to ensure the real stories of people who were in these...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I hear what the Deputy is saying about the constituent she spoke to who wants her history. I believe that the information and tracing legislation we have committed to providing at rapid pace is the key element in giving people their history and in answering for so many people the questions of their birth, parents and early life information. That is why the information and tracing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am very much aware of the needs of survivors who are living outside the country. Some moved subsequently and some are out of the country as a result of the adoption practices that the Deputy described. Some of these groups are represented on the collaborative forum. At our latest meeting, we specifically discussed issues with regard to survivors living outside the country. I will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Senator is correct that time is of the essence. It is something that survivors have brought home to me with regard to being able to avail of the enhanced medical card or any sort of recognition scheme, and also the time to get the information that will be so valuable to them, which is why we all need to work swiftly together. I want to work with this committee on the information and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. She has flagged up the concerns about the operation of the confidential committee and my own reflection, having looked at the report, is that there are questions about the appropriateness of trying to accommodate an investigative, judicial process and a truth-telling process in one inquiry. The difficulties of that have become apparent. The Senator asked about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Senator raised one important point about what comes over to my Department that I might address at the end.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. To respond to Senator Higgins on her question about the availability of the hard drives and everything, the full server is being transferred to the Department so my understanding is that all the electronic information will be transferred as part of the archive and will lie within the archive. I cannot speak to the availability of the members of the commission or staff...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. We all agree about the failure of language and tone. When I first read the mother and baby homes report, I focused on the confidential committee. If one takes away the executive summary, the level of hurt and trauma that emerges from the confidential committee will always stick with me when I think of the report. It is the stories I read there that chilled us, as they...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am always happy to come to this committee or provide a written update. I find it beneficial to come to this committee for the range of experience and expertise that it has. However, I am happy to provide written reports. I have, on this point, provided detailed reference and I am always happy to engage with the Chair on issues. I think the Deputy is right that the committee has a role...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I have written to the commission to ascertain that and we received a response this afternoon. It is the commission's view that those tapes are not retrievable.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes: Engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth (16 Feb 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: As for contact being made with the 550 individuals who gave personal accounts, that is being conducted by the commission and it has a statutory duty under the legislation we passed to contact all 550 people. I might pass to Ms McGarrigle to add further detail.