Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 January 2022
1079. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of judicial review cases settled in relation to the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes on 17 December 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63434/21]
View answerOn 17 December, I agreed to settle eight judicial review cases in relation to the Final Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes in light of the evidence given by the applicants in the two lead cases to the Court on the procedural matter of being identifiable.
As part of this settlement, I published an acknowledgement alongside the Final Report stating that a number of survivors do not accept the accounts given in the Final Report as a true and full reflection of what they said to the Confidential Committee or the Commission of Investigation.
I have always recognised the concerns of some survivors about the Final Report and this written statement formalises that acknowledgement.
I also acknowledge that, because the relevant parts of the draft report were not furnished to the applicants, they did not have the opportunity to ask the Commission to correct statements within the report that they believed to be wrong. The statement identifies key paragraphs of concern to the applicants in these cases.
Finally, in light of the evidence on identity presented to the Court by the applicants in the two lead cases, I consented to a declaration that the Commission, by failing to provide the applicants, who were identifiable in the Final Report, with a draft of the report, or relevant part of the report, as required by section 34(1) of the Commission of Investigation Act 2004 prior to submitting the Final Report to me, acted in breach of statutory duty.
I hope that this settlement gives some comfort to the applicants.
The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes carried out a significant and wide-ranging statutory inquiry using powers under the Commissions of Investigation Act, 2004. It carried out its inquiry independent of Government, and relied on the testimony of hundreds of survivors and millions of pages of documentary evidence.
I recognise the courage of survivors and former residents of the Mother and Baby institutions in giving this testimony and thank them for their valuable contributions.
I appreciate that the findings and recommendations of the Commission are important to many survivors. While I acknowledge that specific paragraphs are not accepted by a number of survivors, I am also aware that some of those paragraphs may reflect the experiences and evidence of other survivors.
I have committed to developing a new mechanism which will allow survivors’ personal accounts to be recorded, acknowledged and stand as part of the official record of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions. This is intended to address the concerns and disappointment expressed by some survivors regarding how the personal accounts they gave to the Commission’s Confidential Committee were treated. This process will feed into Government’s broader work in the area of memorialisation, and it is hoped that the outcome will form the heart of a National Memorial and Records Centre. This commitment is reflected in Government’s Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, published in November.
Through this new mechanism, I propose to establish a process for any survivor of Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions who may wish to come forward voluntarily with a view to having their personal account formally recognised as part of the official record of the history and lived experience of these institutions. The process will be underpinned by human rights principles and overseen and managed by a team with expertise in human rights, trauma and memory, communications and oral history.
Scoping work for this process has recently commenced and I hope to be in a position to provide further details shortly.
