Written answers

Wednesday, 8 July 2015

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Magdalen Laundries

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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20. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he has been in contact with the Department of Health to inquire into the reason information which the Health Service Executive had in 2012, unearthed as part of the McAleese inquiries into the Magdalen laundries, showing wholesale unlawful practices regarding adoption in the Bessborough mother and baby home, was not passed on to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27314/15]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As I have outlined for the Deputy previously, the draft report at issue was prepared by the Health Service Executive (HSE) based on records from the former Bessborough mother and baby home as part of its response to the Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalen Laundries.This process, which was independently chaired by Martin McAleese, was conducted under the auspices of the Department of Justice and Equality.

In the course of this work the HSE provided the draft report to the Committee secretariat and to the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The draft report acknowledges that its conclusions remained a matter of conjecture until such time as a more forensic examination of the home’s records could be undertaken by the HSE.

As the issues raised in this appendix regarding adoption were outside the direct remit of the McAleese Committee, the HSE advised that these wider concerns would be examined separately by the HSE. At that time my Department advised the HSE that any validated findings of concern from this separate process should be appropriately communicated by the HSE. My Department is not aware of any subsequent report on this matter by the HSE.

The Government has established a statutory Commission of Investigation to provide a full account, in a timely manner, of what happened to vulnerable women and children in Mother and Baby Homes. Bessborough Mother and Baby Home is included in this investigation. I am confident that the Commission’s extensive remit will facilitate a full and transparent inquiry into all related matters and its reports will be published. The investigation of the high rates of mortality, the reporting of children’s deaths, and the arrangements for the placement of children whether in Ireland or abroad, are all matters which are prescribed within the Commission's Terms of Reference (S.I. No. 57 of 2015). The process of assembling and investigating all relevant records now forms a significant part of the Commission’s work.

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