From Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
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I welcome the opportunity to come before the House today, to discuss the Report of the Commission of Investigation, the terrible failure it revealed in how women and children were treated in institutions over many decades, and to outline the government’s response.
Before I begin I want to pay tribute to all of the mothers and the children who spent time in these institutions. I would also like to thank those who bravely gave their personal accounts to the Commission. I know that the publication of this report has resurfaced deep stress and trauma for survivors.
Following the publication of the Report last week, the government offered our apology and asked for forgiveness for the failings of the Irish State, failings that repeated over decades, and which had the most horrendous consequences for our most vulnerable citizens.
I want to take this opportunity to reiterate the Taoiseach’s apology to mothers and their children on behalf of the State. I too am deeply sorry for the hurt that wass experienced. We humbly seek the forgiveness of the mothers, of their children and their families.
There has been a profound wrong visited upon the Irish women and their children who were placed in these homes. I want to restate in the strongest possible terms - They did nothing wrong!
With the publication of this report, it is our chance to affirm their stories and their truth; ensure that their testimonies are heard, acknowledged and understood. It is there for all to see, and preserved for future generations to come.
I know that some elements of the Report are a disappointment to survivors. Sections where a strictly legalistic approach is taken to describing the profoundly personal impacts of what happened within the institutions. Sections where the Commissions conclusion that it could not find evidence of what happened, and where this could be interpreted as a denial of the experiences of survivors.
This is why it is so important that the Chapter on the Confidential Committee stands out, stands as a an unambiguous statement of the suffering of mothers and children, stands as testament to the lived truth of what happened in these institutions. And stands as a clear articulation of the repeated failures of Church and State.
The scale of these failures require a comprehensive, meaningful and generous response from the State. For my part as Minister, I am committed to ensuring that this government’s response will mark a profound transformation not only in the State’s engagement with survivors, but also in its supports for them. The relationship of trust between the State and the former residents of these institutions has been broken – the government must begin the process of rebuilding that relationship.
The Cabinet has adopted a whole of government response to the Commission Report. This contains 22 actions based on 8 themes many of which directly address the concerns and needs of survivors today.
We all understand that access to personal information is a key issue for many former residents. Progressing Information and Tracing legislation is an absolute priority for myself, for the Taoiseach and for the entire government. I have already been engaging with the Attorney General intensively to this end, approaching the issue in a manner grounded in GDPR, where the right of an individual to access personal information about themselves is central. My department and the Attorney General’s Office are working with a view to have Heads of Bill of Information and Tracing legislation by end March/ early April. This can then proceed rapidly to pre-legislative scrutiny.
Information and tracing legislation will allow for access to wider early life information. It would also allow the Contact Preference Register to be put on a statutory basis. However, our work on this legislation will not delay other efforts to provide earlier access to personal information.
My department is working intensively to prepare for receipt of the Commission archive at the end of February. I wish to ensure that people can access personal information contained within the archive in line with GDPR. We have established a dedicated Information Management Unit headed by an official with data protection and legal expertise who will be supported by an archivist in advancing many of the important record-related recommendations put forward by the Commission. I have also engaged with the Data Protection Commissioner and have met with independent international experts in the area of GDPR – as was suggested to me by members of this house. This intensive work will continue, with a view to having robust policies and procedures in place for managing subject access requests. Following further consultation with DPC, I hope to publish our policies and procedures prior to 28 February.
My department will also continue to work to ensure that GDPR compliant policies are appropriately applied to all access points for personal information.
I’ve placed particular focus on the point of access to personal information as I know it is a matter of deep interest to many member of this house. Moving beyond this, another core commitment in the government’s Response is the creation of a Restorative Recognition Scheme to provide financial recognition. I am working with my department to prioritise the establishment of an interdepartmental group which will develop such a scheme and bring forward proposals for it by the end of April. While the group will consider the three categories of former residents that the Commission highlighted, the government took the significant decision that its considerations are not restricted to those three groups.
The inter-departmental group will also assess the provision of a form of enhanced medical card for everyone who spent more than 6 months in mother and baby homes.
Further health supports include access to counselling through the National Counselling Service, within which former residents of Mother & Baby and County Homes are now considered a prioritized group.
Legislation to allow for the dignified exhumation of the site in Tuam and in other sites if required, and providing for DNA identification will be brought for pre-legislative scrutiny soon. I have written to the Joint Oireachtas Committee asking for it to be prioritised on their agenda.
We recommit to establishing a national memorial and records centre related to institutional trauma, and that departments and State bodies will prioritise the transfer of original files to the National Archives so that they can be publically accessible.
The overarching theme is that this action list will be progressed in a survivor-centred manner An enhanced model of engagement with former residents, their representative groups, as well as the survivor diaspora will be established, following consultation with the Collaborative Forum. This week I have written to the Collaborative Forum, seeking two meetings next month.
Other commitments include:
The government is proposing these range of measures to recognise the diverse needs of former residents – mothers and children. They are the first steps towards trying to rebuild the broken trust between them and the State who failed them over so many years.
I know that many former residents are of an age where they need to see immediate action. They deserve to see real change in their lifetime, and we as a government must do all we can to make this happen. They have already waited too long for justice to be done.
I have outlined timelines for progressing some of the actions above and I will outline further details in forthcoming weeks.
I think it is important that I also address the role of the Church had in this history, and how both the Church and State are accountable for what happened in these institutions. All those who were involved in this dark past have an obligation to the women and children who passed through these institutions. As such, I have written letters to religious congregations and charities to seek engagement with them, specifically on the issues of apology, their own contributions to restorative recognition and the provision of institutional records which would be beneficial to survivors. I look forward to progressing discussions in this regard.
After decades of secrecy, of shame and stigma, survivors’ truth is now heard. It is our responsibility to respond to this truth, with empathy, with compassion and with meaning. The publication of the Report in no way represents the end of this story.
Restorative justice will require collective actions, and I look forward to working with both Houses as we begin to make reparations for the wrongs of the past.