Ivana Bacik (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. It is disappointing to hear that he is not prepared to accept any of the amendments given how crucial this core principle is. Again, he referred to the 2004 Act. That is not set in stone and we can amend it. The whole purpose of this Bill, as the Minister said, is to disapply it in a particular way to enable the database to be sent to Tusla. Clearly, we can disapply it, amend it or make exceptions to the general rule that applies only to this particular commission. We do not have to amend it so that it applies to all commissions. It is disappointing, particularly as amendment No. 12 was drafted as a simple amendment to show how it could be disapplied and one could carve out an exception to the 2004 Act provision. We would have been quite happy to work with others to improve upon it, ensure it enabled people to access identity information and to meet the needs of ensuring the preservation of an archive. I will be pressing the amendment.

The tireless work of Catherine Corless in Tuam and the interim reports which the commission has already published have given us a large amount of information. They have also disclosed, however, the scale of the distress involved. Senator Higgins spoke about the Bessborough home in Cork. I referred to that on Second Stage because the fifth interim report of the commission which focused on the Bessborough mother and baby home had chilling revelations that out of 900 children who died between 1922 and 1998 there, only 64 burials were accounted for. I quoted that awful finding the commission made that it is not known where the majority of children who died at Bessborough are buried.

These appalling findings illustrate the dearth of information available to survivors and their relatives, descendants or, as Senator Higgins said, in some cases to mothers who may be still alive and do not know where their babies are buried. This is the sort of information we are talking about.

I accept the Minister's commitment to producing information and tracing legislation. We are back to the drawing board on that one, however, given that the Bill brought forward by the previous Minister, Katherine Zappone, fell in June 2019 on Committee Stage in the Seanad.We had spent many hours debating it by that time. I do not know whether the Minister can - I would like him to - give us a realistic timeframe for giving people a way of accessing the identity information. That might give people some comfort in the absence of any move by the Government to take any of these amendments on board. This is an important principle. It goes to the core of what we say is lacking in the Bill. I will be pressing the amendment, but I would ask the Minister for some idea as to when that information and tracing legislation will be effective so that people can access this important information.