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PERSONAL STORIES OF people who lived in institutions like homes for mothers and babies have been read in the Seanad during a debate on proposed legislation related to the records of the Commission of Inquiry of Homes for Mothers and Babies.
Senator Victor Boyhan was among those who spoke on the issue this afternoon, sharing powerful personal stories.
Boyhan, who grew up in an orphanage at Dún Laoghaire in Dublin, said that many people over the years have told him their stories of life in mother and baby homes and similar institutions.
Boyhan shared several people’s stories, including that of a neighbor who at the age of 80 told him about his son’s death at an institution in Salthill in Co Galway decades earlier.
She said she was not allowed to hold her baby and learned from a gardener that the nuns had planned to cremate her body.
Recalling what the woman told him, Boyhan said the gardener told the woman, “Don’t worry, I tried to give your son a good burial. The nuns sent me and their son in a wheelbarrow. And instead of cremating it … I buried it under the compost heap. “
Boyhan said the woman told him about the incident when she was 80 years old and had begun to lose her memory. His daughters never knew what happened.
“His son, his only son, who was refused to take in his hands and hold for a few minutes, was handed over to a gardener to be put in a wheelbarrow to take him to burn, but that gardener went ahead of the nuns and told the story. “
Boyhan was pointing out that some people who worked in maternity homes and other institutions tried to report the injustices they saw.
He called on those present to remember that they were “talking about people, and many of them are outside the doors here today, and thousands of them have written to us, they want you to believe them and they want you to support them.”
“So many things happened these people, they were entrusted to the care of the State or the Church or a charity or whatever. Many of them were separated from their families ”.
Shattered families
Boyhan said the problem did not only affect young single mothers, noting that some mothers and fathers who were married “had their children taken away and received no support.”
“There were mothers, fathers and children who were divided due to other [family members’] interest in money, inheritance and land. And all the historical things that accompany our obsession with possessing, our obsession with property and inheritance.
“It is too simplistic to say that it is a boy or a girl, it is a family. It is not. There are many, many families ”.
Boyhan said that many families were subsequently “robbed by this state, by establishments in this state of that opportunity for reunification.”
Speaking of plans to seal the commission’s records for 30 years, Boyhan said that many survivors may not be alive by then.
“In 30 years, I will be almost 90, I will not be,” Boyhan said, adding that “many others have left.” Of the survivors who are still alive, he said that many of these people “are devastated.”
Addressing O’Gorman, Boyhan said: “The reality is that for many people, they see you, as a minister, locking up all that documentation for 30 years.
“They see that you and your bill block access to information in relation to certain information and the evidence and documentation that has been compiled by the Investigation Commission on the deaths of children, mothers, people who had the terrible, terrible experiences” .
Boyhan also spoke in favor of an amendment by Senator Michael McDowell that ensures that testimony before the commission will remain confidential.
Boyhan said the government will face “endless litigation” if the legislation is passed. O’Gorman said he has consulted with the Attorney General throughout this process.
McDowell previously said that the commission gave the individuals a “firm commitment” that they would not be publicly identified. He said people shared deeply personal stories with the commission after they were told they would never be identified, but that the new bill would allow them to be identified in 30 years.
However, several other senators such as Lynn Ruane and Alice-Mary Higgins said that many people who testified wanted public hearings to be held and their stories public, but were not offered this option.
Several academics, activists and politicians have called on the government to avoid sealing the records, once the wishes of those who wish to remain anonymous are respected.
The National Council of Women today expressed serious concerns regarding the bill and the way it is “rushing to pass the Oireachtas.”
Director Orla O’Connor said the NWC is “very concerned about the bill on mother and baby registries and the way it is currently being enforced through Oireachtas.”
“This state has failed so many women and children in this country who suffered immeasurable institutional trauma and abuse.
“It is our responsibility now, at a minimum, to address the serious concerns that survivors and the families of survivors are raising and to ensure that their rights to information and access to their identity are respected.”
Lynn Boylan said that she and others have spoken with the survivors and that many of them are happy that the release of the commission’s report will be delayed 28 days if it means their concerns are addressed, such as their right to information and records.
Sealed for 30 years
Senators expressed “serious concerns” about the proposed legislation in upper house debates today and Wednesday.
Last week, the government approved the text of the bill that it said will safeguard records after the commission is dissolved.
Several senators asked for more time to examine the bill and said it is “rushing”.
The commission was established in 2015 to investigate the treatment of women and children in 14 mother and baby homes and four county homes between 1922 and 1998.
It was established after claims that up to 800 babies were buried in an unnamed mass grave in an old Bon Secours home in Tuam, Co Galway.
Excavations conducted between November 2016 and February 2017 found a significant amount of human remains, ranging in age from 35 fetal weeks to two to three years, buried in a vault at the site.
The commission is due to submit its final report to O’Gorman by October 30, after previous delays. His work has cost to date about 14 million euros.
According to the Investigation Commissions Act of 2004, once it presents its final report, the commission will be dissolved and, before its dissolution, it must deposit all records with the minister to be sealed for a period of 30 years.
However, O’Gorman has denied that the commission’s records are put “out of reach.”
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The proposed legislation will see the transfer of certain documents from O’Gorman to Tusla, the Agency for Children and Families.
Several people have raised concerns about the sealing of the records and have asked for clarity on what evidence will be given to Tusla.
O’Gorman said this week that he understands the concern over the issue “given Ireland’s history.” He said the new legislation is “necessary to preserve access to invaluable information now and in the future, and not to put it out of reach as reported.”
O’Gorman said that the entire premise of the 2004 Act “is that investigations are conducted in private”; however, this has been questioned by academics.
“That confidentiality applies to the evidence and records collected by the investigation. Allowing testimony to be freely given is critical, ”O’Gorman said.
The minister said that the bill being presented will preserve this information and allow the database to be transferred to Tusla, “with whom most of the original records are already found.”
O’Gorman said the new legislation will prevent the information from “being effectively destroyed” and allow access to it under existing laws.
“The bill focuses on protecting a valuable resource that will help access personal information under existing law and will be hugely beneficial in any future information and tracking legislation.”
“I am absolutely committed to addressing the long-standing issue of birth information tracking legislation. This is not what this bill is going to address, but I am absolutely committed to doing so. “
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