Seanad debates

Friday, 16 October 2020

Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) Records, and another Matter, Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

10:30 am

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

No, but it would be a split. My concern is that while the number of documents is the same, there are two different directions in which a future tribunal might go. I want the Minister to have a full and comprehensive set of documents and I would prefer if the tribunal were able to access documents from a single location in an appropriate way.

I appreciate the unintended consequence, which was my initial concern. I realise that is not the issue but my concern about the splitting of responsibilities remains. We have spoken to our concerns about Tusla and the documents. The Minister stated he will speak to Tusla but there has not yet been anything to confirm how those records will be stored. I hope that will be forthcoming in the Dáil. Will the documents be in a single location? I would not want a future tribunal to have to ask Tusla for copies of the records, and for Tusla to reply that it has, in fact, put them with many other relevant records in a number of locations, such as the agency's sections on children, institutions, health or whatever it is. That is the fear. That is why I liked the idea of a single source with all the records. I accept that an archive is the Minister's ultimate goal, but for the sake of a tribunal, there should be clarity.

Amendment No. 20 might not be necessary, unless the Minister were to choose to take a dual application, which would allow both for Tusla to be accessed, in cases where a tribunal needed only records that were relevant to Tusla, and for the Minister to respond comprehensively if required. Either amendment, which is more or less the same wording as the other, would do that.

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