Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am relieved that we are finally looking at the redress scheme being launched and that we are at this Stage in the legislation. I want to welcome Sheila, who is present today. There is no compensation that can mitigate the horror of the experience of women, both in the mother and baby homes and in the very cruel society of the time. There is also the stigma of being born in a mother and baby home. No matter what we say here, there is nothing that can compensate for that. We must do better, we must change and we must have a better place for women and children in our society today. I pay tribute to all the activism that has gone on for many years so that we would arrive at a place where there is something to acknowledge this shameful time in our history. I pay particular tribute to the Minister, who has been incredibly committed. He has spent long hours, many times these were way outside of office hours, listening, speaking and advocating. I am very grateful for that.We are at this place. I have sat with survivors and considered their experience, including the experience of a child born in a mother and baby home who was then boarded out and perhaps went to school from that family. That family experience might have been good but such children went to school with a different surname. They were stigmatised and their origins known in the school. Eventually, in some instances, and I have spoken with mothers, some of these children then went on themselves to give birth in mother and baby homes. There will be people who will make applications to two different institutions regarding two different experiences that are inextricably linked.

This brings me back to the six-month piece. I very much rely on the scientific evidence of intrauterine trauma and the fact that a baby in the womb can suffer trauma due to the experiences and context of a parent. That trauma can lead to lifelong mental health issues, illnesses and addictions. There are lifelong consequences. Dr. Gabor Maté would say that a psychic wound leaves a scar and the scars are there for life. I question the basis of the six-month exclusion because if someone is born in a mother and baby home, he or she experiences the trauma of the woman. The heart of the redress scheme is acknowledging the trauma of those women in being there and that entire experience. If we know and acknowledge they were traumatised and had that societal quashing of who they are and their rights as people, then the baby in the womb was also traumatised. I really have difficulty with our cut-off point.

I also have difficulty with the religious orders not coming to the table and not conceding they have a bill to pay. I recently had a conversation with a man who worked as a taxi driver many years ago. He used to bring laundry to the Magdalen laundries and then bring it back to hotels and government premises. He also brought women and babies. The taxi drivers just did it and never really thought about what was happening at the time. These religious institutions received money from the State for all this. The very least they might do is come to the table. I find it very difficult to reconcile anyone who preached an allegedly Christian message with being so trenchant in their own lack regarding the requirement for a tangible forgiveness. It is also a terrible shame on GlaxoSmithKline. Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of saying I will boycott its products for the rest of my life because I do not know when I will need them, but there should certainly be consideration on that level. It is a shame on that company. It is a billion dollar company. That it has not come to the table either is quite shocking and shameful.

I will return to the practicality of all this. The birth information tracing mechanisms are very good. It was very good legislation. However, I know people who applied last November and have been told it will be June at the very earliest before they will get any of their documentation, aside from the tracing. I understand all the elements that may be in that, including, to be fair, the gathering all that documentation in order to make sure. However, expectations were raised and they are not being delivered on. I would ask about that. I have got some of the survivors I am working with to put in a birth information and tracing request so they themselves will know their story. I am worried they knew they were in a particular institution but may have then been moved to an orphanage, which would disqualify them, and then maybe they were boarded out. To ascertain their own stories for themselves and to manage their expectations of this redress scheme, they put in applications for their documentation. The timing of receiving that documentation and being eligible for the window of opening to apply for the redress scheme mean it is important we are empathetic to the challenges of producing documentation. If such documentation cannot be produced for the survivors who are receiving their own records, then how can we know for sure the information being given, where people do not necessarily have significant information, is factually correct? We will end up with people coming back when they maybe get their information after an event. We need to be careful and are sure that people have all their information. I am treating it almost like a data request. In employment law, I always put in data requests. In this instance, it is to support people to manage their own concerns.

All of this is a chapter in our history. Over the past couple of years, sitting with survivors and hearing their stories, I can only think that we must act. We have taken so many of those 22 actions already. I am very pleased with that. Can we do better? I would like to think so, but we can continue to evolve in ensuring medical cards are delivered. Given the lifelong trauma that can be caused from the womb onwards, we should look at the enhanced medical card for those 24,000 people. I would also like to see the people excluded under the six-month limit get financial redress. I would like to see that happen but we must make sure, when this chapter eventually closes, that the dignity to which everyone is entitled has been accorded.