Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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125. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason the Magdalen laundries are not included in the Commission of investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and Certain Related Matters. [2183/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I announced the proposed Terms of Reference for the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters on Friday, 9th January. While due regard has been given to the emphasis on “Mother and Baby Homes” in the motion approved by Dáil Eireann on the 11th June 2014, the terms of reference also reflect a much wider agenda of directly related matters than was evident at the initiation of this process.

The approach taken provides a clear and deliberate emphasis on the experiences of women and children who spent time in Mother and Baby Homes over the period 1922-1998. As we know these institutions have not been the central focus of previous investigations. Clear criteria have been used to identify Mother and Baby Homes for the purpose of this investigation, including having the main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children. The Terms of Reference do include the former Magdalen Home at 8 Lower lesson Street, Dublin 2, as a Mother and Baby Home, although the information available indicates that the Magdalen Laundries did not provide this specific type of service.

During the course of my consultations with advocacy groups and political colleagues across the spectrum, it became clear to me that the issue of entry and exit pathways of both women and children raised further questions which needed to be examined. In this regard, the Deputy may wish to note that the Commission is tasked with examining the extent to which other entities were part of the entry or exit pathways for single mothers and children into or leaving these specified Homes. It is certainly open to the Commission to give consideration to the Magdalen Laundries in this significant strand of its investigations. The issues to be examined by the social history module also explicitly cite the Magdalen Laundries in this regard.

I believe that both the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, and the Terms of Reference themselves, provide adequate opportunity for the Commission to take an independent view of the adequacy of scope, given its task. The Deputy may also wish to note that the proposed arrangements, in particular Article 6 of the Terms of Reference, require the Commission to make recommendations in respect of any matters which is not covered by the existing scope, but which it considers may warrant investigation in the public interest.

Details in respect of the Commission are available on my Department’s website including a number of explanatory documents.