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THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN has said that he is “determined” that the State do the right thing for the survivors of the maternal and child homes.
Following recent controversies over the government’s handling of the Mother and Baby Household Commission report, Roderic O’Gorman said the Cabinet had agreed to a series of measures to address the concerns.
The Maternal and Child Home Investigation Commission presented its final report to O’Gorman last Friday after five years of work.
The report, which is 4,000 pages long, will be published after it is reviewed by the Attorney General.
O’Gorman told the Oireachtas Children’s Committee that the report will be released “as soon as possible.”
There was a huge reaction from survivors, activists and opposition parties after the government passed controversial legislation that would allow a database created by the Commission on Homes for Mothers and Babies to be sealed for 30 years.
There has been a lot of confusion about the legislation and whether survivors will have adequate access to their records.
“My hope is that these measures will begin to rebuild trust damaged over the past two weeks,” O’Gorman told the committee today.
He added that more “openness, transparency and understanding” is needed from the survivors.
Majella Connolly (front), an adoptee of St. Patrick’s Mother and Baby House in Dublin, joins the protesters outside Aras an Uachtarain, Dublin, after President Michael D Higgins signed the bill into law. October 26th
Source: PA
Describing some of his department’s key priorities, the minister added: “I am committed to introducing legislation to solve problems with the current adoption information and tracking architecture, which again stood out in the debate on the bill. database of homes of mothers and babies “.
He said the legislative measures will require “detailed scrutiny.”
The minister also said that he will meet with various survivors and groups this week.
Sean Sherlock of Labor asked when the Tracking and Information Bill will be published.
“When will the commission report be published, why would I not want to address these issues until we see the report and its outcome?” added.
O’Gorman said he has put additional resources in place to get the report released “as quickly as possible.”
“I believe that every legislative step will be influenced by that,” the minister added.
I think the first piece of legislation will be Tuam’s legislation regarding burials. I hope to be in a position to bring a memorandum to Cabinet in November for the government to agree on a bill.
“I am determined to ensure that the issue of providing early birth information for adoptees and the broader survivors of institutional abuse is a key priority for my department next year.”
Sen. Mary Seery-Kearney said survivors and families have had “a long time of grief.”
“I am deeply disappointed and deeply uncomfortable with the way the matter was handled in its entirety, both in terms of the lack of consultation with survivors and the rush of legislation in the House,” she added.
“The experience of knowing information about yourself being locked in a box that you cannot access must be excruciating.
“I appreciate that there are competing rights, but we need transparency in that regard.”
O’Gorman said: “My department will collaborate with the Data Protection Commissioner to develop the implications of that for my department and how we will treat each individual data access request.”
It comes when the minister announced the appointment of Orlaith Traynor as Chairman of the Board of the Irish Adoption Authority.
Traynor has previously served as Vice President of the Irish Adoption Authority.
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The Collaborative Forum on Homes for Mothers and Babies issued a statement today saying that “trust has been completely broken” with DCYA officials and Minister O’Gorman “who instead of consulting us … until the date has only instructed its officials to point us to their Twitter account. “
The representative group of survivors of Mother and Baby Home, County Home, Bethany Home has asked that the forum – established by my then Minister Katherine Zappone – meet again.
TD of the Wicklow Social Democrats, Jennifer Whitmore echoed the call or the reestablishment of the Collaborative Forum that has not met since December 2019.
Today, the survivors have written to members of the Dáil to express their distrust in the government since the legislation was passed. They have called for the Forum to be re-established so that key issues can be addressed since the Government’s reversal on the issue of access rights to personal data, ”Whitmore said in the Dáil today.
We urgently need clarification as to what data and personal information survivors and adopted persons will have immediately, as the Minister has recently stated; full disclosure of Tusla, HSE and DCYA policies on access to personal data of survivors and adoptees; and guarantees that the Forum will have sufficient time to assimilate the final report of the Commission of Inquiry on maternal and child homes before its public release.
– With reports from Adam Daly
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