Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

314. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will provide details of how the €500,000 funding that was made available in 2009 for a memorial to honour all survivors of all State-run industrial schools is to be used; if she will outline details of the proposed memorial; to provide a timescale for when it will be in place; if she will acknowledge that survivors are eager to see the plans for a memorial brought to fruition; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42459/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The establishment of a national memorial for children who were victims of abuse in residential institutions is the final outstanding recommendation of the Final Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, the Ryan Report, which was published in 2009.

For a number of years, the Department has ring-fenced capital funding of €500,000 for this purpose. However, a number of previous initiatives to establish a memorial were unsuccessful, due to both a lack of consensus regarding the nature of such a memorial and issues relating to planning. This included a proposal to develop a specific memorial integrated with the Garden of Remembrance.

Since the publication of the Ryan Report in 2009, separate investigations into the Magdalen Laundries and the Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions have taken place, and it is clear that there were referral pathways between the various institutions and that some individuals transferred from one type of institution to another over time.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has approved proposals for the development of a National Centre for Research and Remembrance in Dublin 1. The Centre will be comprised of a number of elements including –

• a museum and exhibition space, the development of which will be led by the National Museum of Ireland;
• a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the National Archives;
• a place for reflection and remembrance;
• social housing; and
• educational and community facilities.