Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is good news; I am delighted.

Like others, I wish to address the issues arising from the finding of human remains on the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam. I do not intend to rehearse the horror of what happened to those babies and their mothers but I share in the disgust that everyone in the House, and outside it, feels today. It is important we take this opportunity to commend Ms Catherine Corless, as others have done, and also the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes for bringing these issues to light, even though the process has been very difficult at times. I also compliment the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Katherine Zappone, for the prompt, open and respectful manner in which she addressed the issue. Unfortunately, this frankness and respect was not mirrored last week by the response or, indeed, the lack of response from the Bon Secours Order which ran the home at the time. It is not as if it was blind-sided by the unexpected news. It had a considerable amount of time to prepare a response for this but the decision not to comment on the findings has to have been a conscious one on its part. The motto of the Bon Secours Order is: Good Help to Those in Need. Many of those who spent time in these homes were in need but I do not believe they ever got good help. Whatever the circumstances, the children whose lives were very short and ended in Tuam did not get the respect of a proper burial. The lack of response from the Bon Secours Order further compounds this indignity and is both mean-spirited and un-Christian. I do not believe this approach is reflective of the values of the majority of the serving sisters, if any, and I call on the Bon Secours Order to provide a truly caring response by giving a full apology as soon as possible.I ask the Leader to urge the Minister, Deputy Katherine Zappone, to use whatever powers and resources are at her disposal to ensure that these children are given the dignity of a respectful burial and that their memory is marked in an appropriate way.