Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration to discuss Mother and Baby Homes Report with Minister O’Gorman

The Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration will meet with Minister Roderic O’Gorman tomorrow, Tuesday, 16 February at 4.00pm in the Dáil Chamber.

The agenda for the engagement with the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration will include:

• Consideration of Report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes;
• Matters previously raised concerning the report; and
• Destruction of records and audio files by the Commission of Investigation.

Committee Chair Deputy Kathleen Funchion said: “Since the publication of the report last month, the Committee has met on a number of occasions in private session to carefully consider its content and conclusions before meeting with the Minister to discuss our concerns, particularly in relation to the content and language of the report. There is a lot of hurt and anger among survivors at the conclusion that there is no evidence of forced adoptions or abuse in these homes, when this is clearly contradicted by the testimonies of those survivors. Members believe this must be addressed by the Minister.

“The Committee would also like to hear the Government’s position on the report. We are also anxious to work closely with the Minister and his Department to ensure the full implementation of the recommendations of the report. The Committee welcomes this opportunity to meet with the Minister to discuss the report and the destruction of the records and files and looks forward to a wide-ranging engagement on how we can together ensure justice for the survivors of Mother and Baby Homes.”

The Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration  has 14 Members, nine from the Dáil and five from the Seanad.

The meeting in the Dail Chamber can be viewed live on Oireachtas TV.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.