Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 February 2021
197. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of survivors who gave testimonies to the commission of investigation's confidential committee that have been contacted, who are still to be contacted or who the Commission of Investigation have not been able to contact; and the breakdown of those that indicated they wished their testimonies to remain unredacted. [10717/21]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the statutory Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes is independent of Government in the conduct of its investigations. This independence, which is provided for in law, is a fundamental principle in the establishment of an inquiry under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. These questions raised by the Deputy are procedural matters for the Commission of Investigation. As the specified Minister for receiving its reports, I had no role or influence in how the Commission conducted its work.
I am therefore not in a position to provide clarity beyond the information which the Commission has provided in the context of my engagement with the Commission around the transfer of its archive. However, I understand that the Commission has used its best endeavours in its efforts to contact all 550 persons reported as providing a personal account to the Confidential Committee. From these contacts, approximately 80 persons have sought for their personal information to be redacted. The wishes of these people must be honoured and consideration is being given regarding how this will be met in terms of the audio recording.
The Commission has also advised that consent was given by 549 of the 550 witnesses to the use of an audio device by the Committee and the subsequent deletion of the recording. For clarity, the final witness, who objected to their testimony being recorded, was not recorded.
