Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On amendment No. 114, the exclusion of several relevant institutions was highlighted by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation and the OAK report. On Committee Stage, Sinn Féin tried to introduce an amendment to include the four other institutions that we believe were identified by survivors as operating, by and large, as mother and baby homes but are excluded from Schedule 1. The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation report also found some 400,000 potential victims who were subjected to non-consensual or illegal medical trials or experimentation.

The report also indicated that consent was not sought and definitely not given. It is believed that a number of these trials were carried out and we can assume that the religious orders were paid for them. It is abundantly clear that there was no compliance with the regulations, even for the time. Many children were discriminated against on a racial basis, not only in mother and baby homes but in nurseries, orphanages and industrial schools. This is what we now call racial segregation. It prevented children from being seen by prospective adoptive parents and adoption societies, resulting in prolonged years of institutionalisation. Racial segregation is a breach of international human rights law.The manner in which this Bill is structured means that in order to account for racial discrimination and systemic racism, the term "particular institution" must be added to the schedule of relevant institutions. Approximately 4,800 children were either nursed out or boarded out. These children experienced some of the worst abuses of any of the children in these institutions. It is disappointing that the subsequent interdepartmental group, IDG, was not given appropriate terms of reference to be able to further investigate this cohort of children. This amendment removes the arbitrary, inappropriate and unfair restriction. The six month residency requirement does not permit any consideration of context and completely lacks an acknowledgement of the realities and conditions in these institutions. A child who was resident for 180 days receives €12,500. A child who was resident for 179 days receives €0. The Government has effectively excluded approximately 24,000 survivors. This restriction is purely based on monetary concerns and should be removed so that all survivors are included without exemption.