Seán Canney
Question:25. Deputy Seán Canney asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration the steps in the process to exhume the bodies at the mother and baby home site in Tuam, County Galway. [21152/20]
View answerTuesday, 8 September 2020
Questions (25)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
I raise the issue of the mother and baby home in Tuam. It has been the subject of a considerable amount of documentation and reports and all kinds of investigations. I would like to know how the legislation on the exhumation of the bodies is progressing and the arrangements the Minister will put in place to consult the residents and locals who might have had a light shone on them that may not be right for them. They are in such close proximity to the site itself.
I thank the Deputy. I am sure he will recall the general scheme of a Bill to give effect to a phased forensic standard excavation at the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam. It lapsed earlier this year prior to formal pre-legislative scrutiny. It is my intention to seek Cabinet approval to reintroduce this legislation. Following that approval, I will be seeking for the relevant Oireachtas joint committee, on its appointment, to prioritise early scrutiny of the proposed legislation so its recommendations can be taken into account during the drafting process. Once drafted and approved by the Government, I will take the Bill through the Oireachtas so further work required to establish the agency may be advanced. As Deputies will appreciate, the intention of the Bill is to allow for the exhumation and, if possible, the identification of the children interred at the site.
The Office of the Attorney General advises that new legislation will be required to carry this out because of the unique circumstances of the burials and the fact that the current laws would not allow for the Government's decision to be implemented. Work on drafting the Bill is ongoing in my Department. The general scheme of the Bill provides for the creation of an agency for a finite duration to manage the intervention at the site, and preliminary work on the establishment of that agency will proceed as the legislation takes its final shape. Once the legislation is in place and the agency has been established, it will procure the expertise required to undertake the works needed at the site.
I understand the delay in all this has been a source of real distress for the survivors of the mother and baby homes and their families. I assure the Deputy that I am committed to bringing forward the legislation to ensure the children interred in Tuam may at last be given a dignified burial.
I thank the Minister. I stated the important point is that the locals be taken into account in whatever legislation is introduced. People close to the site have spent their years protecting it as a shrine and place of worship. They looked after it when the eyes of the world were not on them. They kept it and maintained it as a sacred place. It will be important, when the legislation is introduced, that we take into account the feelings and wishes of the local residents, whose lives have been disrupted considerably by all that has happened and the publicity worldwide. They feel they need to be consulted and to have their wishes heard. It is important that they be part of the final solution.
I thank the Deputy for that. A significant number of people live in very close proximity to the site. I have not yet visited it. I will be visiting it. I hope to do so soon. I understand there are houses and gardens backing directly onto the site. I can only imagine how the attention, controversy and genuine sadness associated with the site have affected them. I am open to the Deputy's suggestions on how best to engage with residents in Tuam. A pre-legislative process gives us more time to consider how the legislation should be shaped. It will give Deputy Canney and other Deputies representing the area more of a chance to have an input on behalf of their constituents.
I appreciate the Minister's concern. I recommend that he visit the site. The former Taoiseach visited it. It was not a big publicity stunt as he made a private visit. If the Minister wishes to visit the site, he should let me know in his own time and I will show it to him. It is important that he visit just to get a sense of the whole place and what is there. It is important that we move along with the legislation as quickly as possible because we need to satisfy the needs of the survivors and those families who have relations buried at the site. It is important that we try to bring closure to this. It is a very sensitive matter. It can be emotional for people so I ask the Minister to treat it with the sensitivity it deserves and to take everybody's viewpoint into account. The previous Minister, Dr. Zappone, did this. I trust that the current Minister will continue in the same manner.
I spoke to the former Minister, Dr. Zappone, a couple of weeks after taking on my role and we talked through some of the key challenges facing me as the new Minister. Dr. Zappone spoke specifically about her visits. I believe she made a number of visits to Tuam. She spoke about the impact on her and advised me to visit. I have also spoken to Catherine Corless and her family. She, too, extended the invitation. I certainly plan to visit.
It is a priority for me to proceed with the legislation, subject to Cabinet approval. Pre-legislative scrutiny was close to being carried out. It was to begin the day the Dáil was dissolved in January. So much has happened since then. I acknowledge the delay is a source of genuine anguish for the survivors and their families. We will seek to expedite the process as much as we can.