Hildegarde Naughton (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to return to a matter I raised last week, namely, the babies buried in the septic tank in Tuam. Subsequent to my raising the issue, a number of politicians in the area took an interest in it and are rightly calling for an investigation. I wrote to the Taoiseach in this regard last week and yesterday I was in communication with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I am assured that the Government is taking the matter most seriously at the highest level and that an investigation will take place. The matter is complicated by the fact that several Departments are involved, and discussions are under way on how best to proceed.
I have heard it said that the institutional church, namely, the local bishop, had no hand, act or part in the running of the home in Tuam nor any say over the Bon Secours nuns. To be clear, canons 394 and 397(1) of the Code of Canon Law provide that jurisdiction today. A bishop serving between 1925 and the 1960s had even greater power over the religious in his diocese. I remind those who try to pass these events off by referring to the historical context in which they occurred that death by malnutrition was regarded as manslaughter under common law as far back as 1918. A decision of the Court of Criminal Appeal in R v. Gibbins and Proctor found that where someone takes upon himself or herself a duty of care, as in the case of the Bon Secours nuns, he or she has an obligation to care for the children. It has been reported that some of the death certificates record the cause of death as malnutrition.