Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was shocked again at what happened in Tuam. I did not think we could be shocked anymore after the Cloyne report and the Ryan report. Speaking in the Dáil at the time of the Ryan report, I said that we cannot blame anyone else for this. We cannot blame Britain or Germany. We have ourselves to blame. We are angry and we are reaching out to blame people.

However, the State has been set up since 1922. Under Article 44 in our Constitution, written in 1937, we gave a special relationship to the Catholic Church. It was taken out in 1973. It was deleted. However, we had a special relationship with the Catholic Church. That was the decision of the people of Ireland. This was the political system of Ireland that effectively encompassed almost 100%. Anyone who did not fit in went to the United Kingdom or wherever.When I was growing up, if we misbehaved in our own towns, judges would send us to London. They felt it was a different place. This was a time when happiness was not really celebrated and there was an acceptance of suffering in childhood and hardship. We must reflect on where we are now. We can enjoy diversity and, without forgetting the horrible things of the past, we must look forward to positive things. Everyone had amnesia. We forgot what did not suit us. However, we must remember that we were the State. The State invited in the Catholic Church, which set up those institutions, and we are all culpable. Our parents were culpable as was everyone else. What happened the poor women and children is absolutely wrong. I am not churchgoing or religious. However, the Catholic Church is absolutely wrong. We have to trawl through the systems that were in place, including the Garda and education systems. Where was the INTO? Where was the TUI?