Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Institutional Burials Act failed Bessborough. We talk about general provisions but we are also talking about specific sites. Bessborough was known to be one of the areas where concerns have been raised about inappropriate burials and where we have more than 800 children unaccounted for. These children are known to be dead but are unaccounted for. Choices were made in this regard. During the debate on the legislation, we were assured that Bessborough would be covered and that there was no need for amendments. In fact, we have now been told that it is not covered. This is a fact. The Act made choices and this is why we have proposed a Bill to amend the Institutional Burials Act 2022 in order that the director of authorised intervention would be empowered to engage in cases where there may not be precise burial sites identified but where inappropriate burials are highly likely to have taken place.

With respect, to simply prove this to local authorities in a general sense is not adequate. We know that if these developments are allowed to take place then the opportunity for intervention will be lost. It may well be that the burials were not systematic, because the fact that they were not recorded is a part of the disrespect in this regard. It is important, however, that there are interventions at this point. It is not adequate to simply talk about development plans in the abstract when we have a real travesty in the case of Bessborough that the State should step up to address. What formal processes has the Department in mind to tease out the complexities of Bessborough? I recognise that a range of survivors have wishes. Those who wish to see memorialisation certainly do not wish to see inappropriate development nor do those who wish to see excavation of the burial places of their relatives.