Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The thing is that some people who experienced trauma, abuses or forced separation may be officially down in the records as only being there to receive maternity services. There is also how these things are recorded within institutions. They may have been sent to those maternity services against their will at the wish of their family. They may have been forced from their children in the weeks of receiving those maternity services. Maybe I am misunderstanding but was there not movement between those who received maternity services and those who were in the county homes on those co-located sites? Did people give birth in the county home only? It would seem like everybody in a county home was officially down as being there for maternity services. Did they actually give birth on the same co-located site but were then moved into a shelter? I am just not sure whether changing the term from maternity to pregnancy-related restricts us in understanding how these co-located sites worked at the time in terms of the movement of women between the maternity-specific services and the county homes. Some probably never made it into the shelter in the county homes but it does not mean that was not the intention for them. They could have been sent there and there could have been a stillbirth. There could have been anything. There could have been a forced separation after that. They may not have gone home with their children but the intention was always under that same guise of unmarried mothers. Just because they received maternity services and did not end up in the shelter does not mean they were not part of the same system and how they were recorded may not be reflective of what they endured while they were there. The women who report not receiving pain relief may have received that aspect in the maternity services piece and not in the county home piece. I understand why we need to make a distinction because of course there will be a lot of people and families who just used the maternity services but that does not mean some of the other women we need to capture did not only use the maternity services. I will have to vote against some of these amendments.