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The Children\u2019s Minister has said the outline of the Government\u2019s information and tracing legislation allowing survivors of mother and baby homes access to their personnel information will be published by early April.<\/p>\nThe Children\u2019s Minister has said the outline of the Government\u2019s information and tracing legislation allowing survivors of mother and baby homes access to their personnel information will be published by early April.<\/p>\n
Roderic O\u2019Gorman also said elements of the mother and baby homes report were a \u201cdisappointment\u201d to survivors.<\/p>\n
He added that the failings of the State, which were repeated over many decades, had the \u201cmost horrendous\u201d consequences for the most vulnerable in society.<\/p>\n
He made the comments during statements in the Seanad on Tuesday on the Commission of Investigation\u2019s mother and baby homes report.<\/p>\n
The institutions for women who fell pregnant outside of wedlock produced high levels of infant mortality, misogyny and stigmatization of some of society\u2019s most vulnerable, the independent report found. It was published last week.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Gorman said: \u201cI know elements of this report are a disappointment to survivors. Sections where a strictly legalistic approach was taken to the profoundly personal impacts of what happened in the institutions, sections where the commission\u2019s conclusions that it could not find evidence of what happened and where this could be interpreted as a denial of experiences of survivors.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the chapter on the confidential committee stood out as an \u201cunambiguous\u201d statement of the suffering of mothers and their children and as a testament to the \u201clived truth\u201d of what happened in the institutions.<\/p>\n
The Green Party TD also said it was a \u201cclear articulation\u201d of the repeated failings of the Church and the State.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Gorman reiterated the Taoiseach\u2019s apology to mothers and children on behalf of the state and said he too was \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d for the hurt that was experienced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere has been a profound wrong visited upon the Irish women and their children who were placed in these institutions,\u201d he said. \u201cI was to restate in the strongest possible terms: They did nothing wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the Government would prioritize the publication of the information and tracing legislation, adding that many former residents were of an age where they needed to see immediate action.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey deserve to see real change in their lifetime, and we as a Government must do all we can to make this happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have already waited too long for justice to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said he had written to religious congregations and charities seeking their engagement on the issues of apology, their own contributions to redress and the provision of institutional records.<\/p>\n
Independent Senator Victor Boyhan, who grew up in institutional care, said there were \u201cglaring holes\u201d in the report.<\/p>\n
He described what happened in the institutions as \u201cshocking and terrible\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was born in the Dublin Union in St Kevin\u2019s which is now St James\u2019s Hospital and I wasn\u2019t adopted so this report leaves many glaring holes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about mother and baby homes and children that were in homes and adopted. But what about children who weren\u2019t adopted?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey went on to be in full-time residential care,\u201d he added. \u201cIf there were horror stories in the mother and baby homes there were even greater horror stories in long term care. I speak as a man who has lived the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told his fellow senators there were people and institutions that were excluded form the report and they should not be put any any disadvantage: \u201cAnyone who was in care and was subject to, or should have been under some sort of supervision by the State, must get redress.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that gagging orders should not be applied as it would not be \u201cright or proper\u201d.<\/p>\n
Green Party Senator Pauline O\u2019Reilly said it never ceased to \u201cshock\u201d her that the State could treat its most vulnerable with \u201cso little humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cNo one could read this report and not see abuse and neglect, babies died on an unprecedented level. 9,000 deaths which was between two and four times the level of the general population.<\/p>\n
She said some of the institutions run by the State were among the worst in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen were incarcerated in a system that made no attempt to show kindness or to make amends for past abuses,\u201d she told the Seanad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shamed and debased them and their children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were put there by a State that did not provide them with alternatives. that did not prosecute rape, did not provide them with contraceptives and that acted in a way that was deferential to a Church that used its power to abuse other.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that the Government will be judged on how it responds to the report and that engagement with survivors needs to be \u201cstepped up\u201d.<\/p>\n