Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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217. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will investigate the alteration of records in 2002 relating to vaccine trials carried out at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in 1960-1961; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36491/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In policy terms, matters in relation to vaccine trials are an issue for my colleague the Minister for Health within his responsibility for clinical trials involving medicinal products. However, as the Deputy will be aware the former Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork is one of the fourteen named institutions currently being examined by the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters.

This Commission of Investigation was established by Government (S.I. No. 57 of 2015) in response to significant public concerns relating to the care and welfare of the women and children who were residents of theses institutions. The scope of the Commission’s remit ensures it can provide a full account of what happened to women and children in these homes during the period 1922 to 1998.

On the question of vaccine trials, it is notable that Article 1(v) of the Commission's terms of reference requires the Commission to examine compliance with relevant regulatory and ethical standards in relation to systemic vaccine trials identified by the Commission as being conducted on children in these homes. As the Deputy will be aware these historical vaccine trials have been the subject of debate and inquiry on a number of occasions over recent decades. These inquiries were summarised in the Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on Mother and Baby Homes as published by my predecessor in July 2014.

I am satisfied that the present Commission has sufficient legal powers to compel witnesses to disclose documents and to provide answers on all related matters. I have no plans to separately investigate these matters. In my view the public interest is best served by allowing the Commission to progress its investigations and to establish the facts of what happened in these homes and to make any recommendations it considers appropriate. This work is due to be completed by February 2018.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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218. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will order a full audit of the files in the possession of Tusla in view of recent revelations that the HSE had access to a report prepared for the Magdalene/McAleese inquiry in 2012, which warned that death certificates may have been falsified at Bessborough and Tuam Mother and Baby Home; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36492/16]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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219. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the persons or bodies that had access to the internal report prepared for the Magdalen-McAleese inquiry in 2012 into the falsification of infant mortality rates at both Bessborough and Tuam mother and baby homes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36493/16]

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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220. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the recent revelation by a person (details supplied) that they notified statutory authorities in 2012 of the high rate of infant deaths in mother and baby homes and the possibility of forced adoption of children from within the State. [36494/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 218 to 220, inclusive, together.

Documentation from the former Bessborough and Tuam Mother and Baby Homes was examined by the HSE as part of its response to the Committee to establish the facts of State involvement with the Magdalene Laundries.

In the course of this work the HSE provided a draft report to the Committee secretariat and to the Department of Health and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. This draft report highlighted concerns in relation to infant mortality and the arrangements for the placement of children during the period when these homes were in operation. The speculative nature of any conclusions that were being drawn from this initial review was recognised by the author‘s acknowledgment that the report’s findings 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 these matters were outside the direct remit of the Magdalene Laundries 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 findings of concern from this separate process should be appropriately communicated by the HSE. My Department is not aware of any subsequent reports supplied by the HSE in this regard.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs became actively involved in responding to the concerns relating to Mother and Baby Homes following the publication of information on the former Bon Secours Home in Tuam around mid-2014. The then Minister was subsequently tasked by Government with leading its response to these significant matters of public concern and an Inter Departmental Review Group was set up to assist deliberations on the terms of reference of a Commission of Investigation.

The Inter Departmental Group Report on Mother and Baby Homes, published in July 2014, cites a number of reports from relevant authorities which expressed concerns with undesirably high death rates during the times these institutions were in operation. It also references academic literature which clearly indicates that the role and purpose of these institutions was the subject of attention, report and debate since the early years of the State. So it is important to avoid suggestions that concerns in relation to mother and baby homes were unknown, or ignored, prior to or since 2012.

This work culminated in the establishment of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters in February 2015. The Commission’s terms of reference include specific matters related to infant mortality rates, the reporting and recording of deaths, and arrangements for placing children – whether in Ireland or abroad. Importantly, the Commission will examine exit pathways – including any illegal practices – that may have formed part of the system of ad hoc arrangements in place prior to the introduction of the 1952 Adoption Act.

The more extensive process of assembling and investigating all relevant records now forms a very significant part of the Commission’s work. I am aware that TUSLA, the Child and Family Agency, is assisting the Commission in its task to assemble and examine the particular records in question.

I understand that my predecessor, Minister Reilly, previously outlined this information to the Deputy more than a year ago. As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs I am concerned by the indications from reports based on these records and I want to see these matters fully investigated. It is essential that we establish the full facts of what happened to vulnerable mothers and their children in these institutions.

I am satisfied that the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004, together with the terms of reference set out in S.I. No. 57 of 2015, provide this Commission with the legal powers necessary to conduct a full and transparent inquiry into the broad range of concerns in relation to mother and baby homes. In my view the public interest is best served by supporting the Commission to progress its investigations and to establish the facts of what happened in these homes and to make any recommendations it considers appropriate. This work is due to be completed by February 2018 and its findings will be published.