Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016
1911. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will ensure that all survivors of mother and baby homes will be included in the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes, in view of the fact that excluding some survivors is deeply unfair and discriminatory. [24361/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn accordance with the motion passed by the Oireachtas, the approach taken by Government in drafting the Terms of Reference for this Commission provided a clear and deliberate emphasis on the experiences of women and children who had spent time in Mother and Baby Homes. Clear criteria were used to identify Mother and Baby Homes, including having a function of providing sheltered and supervised ante- and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children, and an ethos which those running the institutions considered to promote a regime of work, training or education as part of an overall approach to either rehabilitating single mothers, or to give them training for living independently. A representative sample of County Homes is also being examined on the basis that some County Homes provided similar services.
Various calls have been made to include a wide range of different institutional settings but the available information indicated that children’s homes, orphanages, Magdalen Laundries, and similar institutions did not provide this specific range of services. For this reason such institutions were not listed in the schedule of Mother and Baby Homes attached to terms of reference.
In recognising that additional information could be uncovered in the course of the investigation, the independent statutory Commission has a wide remit to examine a broad range of public concerns, to decide on their importance to the Commission's work, and to make recommendations on them as it sees fit. Under its terms of reference, the Commission is required to report on any specific matters outside its scope which it considers may warrant further investigation in the public interest as part of the Commission’s work. The Government will consider any recommendations made by the Commission in this regard.
