Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I wish to highlight the horrific findings the commission of investigation has made regarding the remains of infants and babies in Tuam and the appalling suffering experienced in that institution by them, their mothers and siblings, many of whom survive and who have spoken movingly in recent days about their grief and distress at the findings. We all should commend the commission of investigation and, of course, Ms Catherine Corless, the historian who first highlighted the issue. Clearly, there is a need to expand the terms of reference of Judge Yvonne Murphy's commission. She carried out the investigation of 14 mother and baby homes and four county homes as a sample, given the extensive number of county homes in which women were incarcerated. According to Justice for Magdalenes, there may have been as many as 180 institutions across Ireland which had in their care women who were pregnant and their babies. We need to examine ourselves to see the attitudes that prevailed in Irish society right up to the 1990s, when these institutions remained open. I mention not only these institutions but also the Magdalen laundries and the industrial schools in which children suffered such abuse over so many decades. We need to question the terrible repressive attitude towards sexuality, towards women and towards children and the deep and silent suffering experienced for so long by so many women and children and their families.

We need to acknowledge the fact that so many men were responsible for this. An enormous silence surrounds that. For every one of those babies and infants, because some were as old as three, who was found, there was not only a mother but also a father and, indeed, siblings, and we have to think of all that.

We have to think about what is still going on today where we are exporting thousands of women to England every year because we cannot face up to the reality of crisis pregnancy and of women's reproductive health needs. That remains the case today and it is shameful that we are still dealing with that issue in such a repressive and oppressive manner and are still oppressing women and refusing to countenance, confront or acknowledge the reality of life in Ireland and of crisis pregnancy.

I thank the Leader for arranging a debate on this matter on Thursday. I hope he will be able to tell us in advance of that debate that the terms of reference of the commission have been expanded. We will also discuss the Grace inquiry, another instance where a child was very badly failed by the State. We need to debate the wider issues and the wider context and, as others have said, the role of religious institutions and of religious orders, such as the Bon Secours Order, which is currently before the courts in regard to Tuam where it is facing some serious questioning. We need to have a broader debate.

On a lighter note, I wish everyone a happy International Women's Day tomorrow. There will be a series of events. We look forward to the series of events in the Oireachtas next year that will commemorate and celebrate the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in Ireland.