Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House for this debate on what is a very difficult topic. With the exception of Senator Craughwell, it is all women in the House today. We realise how important this situation is for women, including young women. I come from east Galway and the mother and baby homes in Tuam and Glenamaddy are the ones that are very much on my mind. I am mindful of the impact those homes had on these extremely rural areas in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, when society here was extremely conservative and where much importance was afforded to the Catholic Church, which was not balanced in terms of rights for women and children.

I very much welcome this debate. Members across the parties really understand the importance of what the Minister is doing, but also the necessity for further legislation regarding access for those who wish to have it. They also very much understand the confidential nature of the information that needs to be protected in terms of names and of the people who have gone before.

As a councillor in Galway County Council, last year I was very fortunate and privileged to receive testimonies from the mother and baby home in Tuam when a number of people came before the council. We had children who had gone through the process of being adopted illegally. Others who spoke had worked with the historian Catherine Corless, to whom tribute has been paid here today.Ms Corless is a champion and NUI Galway as paid tribute to her as a person of note in Galway. She discovered this and worked tirelessly to ensure the records of those children were brought forward. She worked with the commission as well.

It is very important that the Department shows the vigilance required of it on this sensitive issue. I hope it will be a priority for the Minister who I know has many competing priorities in his Department. I also hope that, as previous speakers requested, he will provide easier access for those who require further information, including on illegal adoptions.

This was a very emotional issue when I was a member of Galway County Council. Of the 39 councillors at that time, seven were women. I am not saying this issue does not impact on men too but as a young woman growing up in east Galway, I understood from a young age the impact of having a child at a young age in a strongly conservative Catholic society. I am happy that we live in a different society today. W.B. Yeats spoke about how Ireland was "no country for old men" but to be honest, Ireland was no country for women, mothers or babies. That has to be taken into account.

This is an important topic that I do not feel qualified to speak about. I thank the Minister for his time.