Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 January 2021
262. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a comprehensive list of mother and baby homes was compiled; if so, the criteria for inclusion on same; and the location in which the list can be accessed. [3214/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters was established in February 2015 to provide a full account of what happened to vulnerable women and children in these institutions during the period 1922 to 1998. Its terms of reference are attached to the Government Order establishing the Commission (Statutory Instrument No. 57 of 2015). The Commission was tasked with a comprehensive investigation of the practices and procedures regarding the care and welfare of residents in these institutions and the entry arrangements and exit pathways for mothers and their children.
The Commission was established in response to significant concerns around a specific type of institution, namely mother and baby homes. Initially the focus was very narrow and related to concerns with the former home in Tuam, Co. Galway. This focus broadened in the course of the extensive public consultation process which assisted Government in defining the terms of reference. The investigation was framed to provide a clear emphasis on the experiences of women and children who spent time in these institutions. This was a deliberately focused approach.
Clear criteria were used to identify relevant institutions and all institutions identified as meeting these criteria were included in the terms of reference. The criteria used to identify Mother and Baby homes included having the main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante- and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children, including both board and lodgings; 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.
The complexity in the classification of these institutions, and the challenge of identifying the specific institutions which catered primarily for unmarried mothers and the children since the establishment of the State, was examined in detail by an Inter-Departmental group which advised Government on these matters. Its report was published in July 2014. The advice to the Government was that the specific institutions should be named in the terms of reference to assist the Commission in its task.
Fourteen institutions were named in the terms of reference and the Commission was also tasked with investigating a representative sample of those County Homes which provided mother and baby type services as a considerable focus of their operations. Four County Homes were subsequently selected by the Commission as a representative sample. The Commission's Final Report includes chapters dealing with each of these individual institutions.
