Written answers

Tuesday, 30 May 2017

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Mother and Baby Homes

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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650. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps she will take to get a commitment from religious orders not to sell off any of the mother and baby homes until a cemetery and monument are in place at each home. [25599/17]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In the first instance, it is important to appreciate that these institutions ceased operating many decades ago. The reality is that many of the buildings and sites which accommodated Mother and Baby Homes and County Homes have evolved significantly in the intervening years. These locations are now being used for a wide array of different activities and purposes, ranging from housing estates to private health care facilities and hotels. In some cases little remains of the former institutions and the locations are not in public ownership.

In relation to cemeteries at these sites, available information does not indicate that we should expect burials on the sites of all the former institutions. The remains of children who died in a number of the Mother and Baby Homes were buried in what are generally known as Angel Plots in local cemeteries. For example, I understand that the children who died while resident in St. Patrick's Mother and Baby Home on the Navan Road were frequently interred in the Angel's plot in Glasnevin cemetery. The Commission has been directly tasked with examining the burial arrangements in respect of these institutions and it will consider available records and witness testimony. Further actions will be informed by the outcome of the Commission's investigations.

On the wider question of monuments, I recognise the importance and value of memorials and other forms of commemoration for former residents of mother and baby homes and their families. I want to advance appropriate measures as part of a transitional justice approach prior to the Commission completing its work.

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