Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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134. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if an external review of the investigation into mother-and-baby homes will be undertaken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53667/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes operated entirely independently of Government. It conducted its investigations in accordance with Terms of Reference approved by the Houses of the Oireachtas and the legal framework provided by the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. It is not open to Government to retrospectively seek to alter or interrogate its findings or methodology.

The Final Report of the Commission describes in stark detail the egregious lack of respect for the dignity and rights of mothers and children who spent time in Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. The information gathered by the Commission remains of significant value to survivors and to our collective understanding of this part of our history. While this work undoubtedly added to our knowledge, it is by no means the end point in our engagement with the sad and complex legacy of Mother and Baby Institutions.

A Confidential Committee module was created alongside the Commission's inquisitorial process to allow those with lived experience of the institutions to provide their accounts as informally as possible. Although this was envisaged as a way to allow the truth as survivors wanted it told to emerge, I am mindful that this has not happened for many. I understand that many survivors are deeply unhappy with how the testimony they provided to the Confidential Committee was treated and presented.

I believe that a new process with the capacity to record, preserve and recognise survivors’ personal accounts presents an opportunity to address the concerns survivors have expressed. Such a process can restore choice and agency to survivors. The accounts will be housed in the National Centre for Research and Remembrance. This rightly places the lived experience of survivors at the heart of the official record in a very visible and powerful way.

This new initiative will focus on respectful recording and acknowledgement of the lived experiences of those who spent time in institutions. The process will have a statutory basis and operate with the consent of participants. Those who recounted their experiences to the Confidential Committee will have the option of permitting the reuse of this testimony and/or offering new or additional oral or written testimony. Importantly, the process will be underpinned by human rights principles and overseen by a team with expertise in human rights, trauma and memory, communications and oral history.

This initiative demonstrates the State’s willingness to hear and formally acknowledge the deeply personal accounts of survivors. I will bring specific proposals on the initiative to Government for approval by the end of the year, and will consult with survivors on those proposals.