Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I begin by extending my continued solidarity to those who endured these institutions and who continue to campaign for justice, truth, support and redress. I thank Senator Dolan for reading out the relevant numbers because it is important when we are having a discussion such as this that we are conscious of the fact that it can retraumatise. It is important we sit back and listen and also reinforce the message that there is support out there for people.

I agree entirely with the forensic questions posed by Senator Higgins. I share the sentiment she expressed around the institutional nature of what went on in these places. Without wishing to diminish any earlier points made by colleagues about particular individual experiences, there is a bigger issue at hand here and one we need to address from an institutional point of view, where our approach to this issue is concerned.

I will make a couple of points.This State and successive Governments, going back decades, have failed the women and children who were treated most cruelly and inhumanely in mother and baby homes, county homes and institutions. It is time to respect the survivors and families. It is time to do right by them and ensure the redress scheme meets their needs. Survivors bravely came forward and told their stories because they needed justice and needed to see it done publicly. Many feel betrayed and let down by the appalling way the scheme has been designed. There is no recognition of the hurt and trauma experienced by children separated at birth from their mothers. The payment scheme excludes people who, as infants, spent less than six months in a mother and baby or county institution. I thought Senator Higgins made an interesting and important point about when we define the trauma as happening. If a person was only in an institution for six months, did the trauma occur at the child's removal from his or her mother? Was it on the loss of a sibling or was it during the abuse the child suffered, in whatever form it took? Who came up with that arbitrary timeline of six months? It baffles me.

The scheme has created a hierarchy of suffering. In the North, speaking after the publication of the Truth, Acknowledgement and Accountability report in October, deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill MLA, said:

This is an important day of acknowledgement recognising the suffering inflicted on mothers and children in Mother and Baby institutions, Magdalene Laundries and workhouses.  This was a shameful episode in our history right across the island - women, girls and children were wronged by Church and State.

I know from speaking to survivors that the trauma felt by people within these homes was further exacerbated by the years of denial and silence that they have faced. The Truth, Acknowledgement and Accountability report published today is very clear on what needs to be done to deliver for victims. Our task now is taking these recommendations forward, listening to the victims and ensuring they receive proper support, including redress and a full public inquiry. I will do everything in my power to make sure their voice is heard and that these recommendations are implemented.

In November, the deputy First Minister reiterated her position, stating:

Given the urgent need for a public inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes, Magdalene Laundries and workhouses, I have proposed that the Executive Office take responsibility for a public inquiry into Mother and Baby Homes and its findings. Victims and survivors should not have to wait a day longer for the public inquiry and redress. I am calling on the DUP to back this proposal without delay to ensure that victims and survivors are properly supported.

What engagement has the Minister had with his colleagues in the Executive in the North about the redress scheme? The church certainly was not organised or operated on a partitionist basis like the two states. Many women and children were moved north to south and south to north.

In recent days, my colleague in the Assembly, Linda Dillon MLA, has welcomed the move by the health minister in the North to make it illegal for mother and baby homes, Magdalen laundries and workhouses to destroy the personal records of women and children who lived in them. The Government here needs to genuinely listen to the survivors and urgently review the redress scheme in terms of the time-based criteria; the exclusion of so-called boarded-out children; access to enhanced medical cards; the proposed payment rates; the proposed time limits; the failure to include all mother and baby and county homes institutions, agencies and individuals involved in forced family separations; and the legal waiver attached to the scheme.

The Government must also seek immediate recourse from religious orders and pharmaceutical companies to the redress scheme. It must ensure that all time limits are reversed and that boarded children are included in the payment scheme. Those boarded children, now adults, must be included in the enhanced medical card. The hurt and trauma for the mothers and children involved in unlawful forced separation must be recognised by the Government and investigators. After decades of abuse inside the mother and baby homes, decades of neglect by the Government and religious orders and those in society entrusted with protecting the most vulnerable, those affected are making the most reasonable and moderate demands. The Government needs to end the drip feed of misery and act decisively and conclusively to ensure the needs of those affected are met to their full satisfaction.