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CHILDREN’S MINISTER RODERIC O’Gorman has said there may be a way to recover the audio recordings of witness testimony given to the Mother and Baby Homes Investigation Commission.
Speaking at the Seanad today, O’Gorman said the commission informed him yesterday that it has learned of “backup tapes” that “may, I must emphasize the word, contain the audio files of personal accounts turned over to the confidential committee.” . ”.
The minister said he did not want to “raise undue expectations about these tapes,” but added: “I hope they contain the audio recordings of the 549 people who gave their consent to be recorded.”
He said the tapes in question will need to be recovered and transferred to the Children’s Department so that his department can determine whether the tapes contain the recordings.
The minister had previously said that he did not accept that the audio recordings could not be recovered, as the commission had previously stated.
On Tuesday, O’Gorman told the Oireachtas Children’s Committee that the commission had informed him that the recordings could not be recovered.
However, in the days since, he has engaged with the commission in an attempt to find a solution.
Speaking on Today with Claire Byrne previously, O’Gorman said: “The commission responded to me on Tuesday saying that they believe that the audio files cannot be recovered, I do not accept it. We all know how difficult it is to permanently destroy electronic information.
“So I continue to work with the commission to see if there is any technical solution available for the recovery of those files.
“The commission has indicated that it is open to analyzing this problem, and for the moment we are linking more details, but I will seek an independent expert to examine the servers, examine where the data was stored, to see if there is any technical information possible solution to allow recovery. “
O’Gorman added that it is “absolutely essential” that you are “satisfied that everything possible has been done to ensure that those particular files are recovered.”
Many survivors have said they were never told the recordings would be destroyed, contrary to the commission’s position.
O’Gorman said the commission is “an independent entity” from the government, and “in its engagement with the Data Protection Commissioner, it has set out the reasons why it undertook the removal of the audio files.”
“He says he did it because he had given very broad guarantees of confidentiality to those people who had come to the confidentiality committee to give their personal accounts.”
However, he acknowledged that many survivors “dispute whether they were told that the audio files would be erased or not.”
“My goal has been to get those audio files back, which is the goal of the survivors at this time.”
Forced adoption
O’Gorman highlighted criticism of the report by survivors and activists, saying it is “difficult to reconcile” witness testimony with some of the commission’s findings, particularly around forced adoption.
“It is difficult to reconcile what the survivors have told me, what the survivors state in the confidential chapter of the committee, with a statement that basically said that women gave their full and free consent to the adoption of children.”
O’Gorman again declined to commit to extending the term of the commission beyond the end of this month.
“We are awaiting information from the Attorney General on what is feasible in that context, but an extension of the commission’s term will mean that survivors will not be able to access the information contained in the file, because the file will not be able to transfer me to my department, ”he said.
Several opposition deputies and senators have called for the commission’s mandate to be extended.
‘Another traumatic twist’
Jennifer Whitmore will present next week a motion from Dáil of the Social Democrats that seeks to extend the term of the commission by one year.
Whitmore, spokesperson for the children’s party, said: “Another traumatic twist in a difficult journey towards the search for truth and justice has fallen on the survivors of homes of mothers and babies after they discovered that the commission had destroyed their testimonies. audio.
“There has been no explanation as to why this was, how it was done and if any testimony can be salvaged, or if the government has a role to play here.”
Whitmore said O’Gorman “has not provided further clarity and indicated that the government was seeking legal advice from the Attorney General.”
He said his party has “a real concern that there is no legal basis for what the Commission has done here.”
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“We have written to the Office of the Data Protection Commission requesting an investigation into the circumstances surrounding this and the legality of such destruction under articles 6 and 9 of the GDPR legislation.
“Pending all the interrogations and possible investigations into this act, we are requesting an extension from the Commission on Homes for Mothers and Babies. There is concern that if it is terminated, the investigations will not be able to be fully carried out and questions will go unanswered as a result, “said Whitmore.
A different approach in the future?
In today’s interview, O’Gorman also said that a commission of inquiry may not be the best way to examine such sensitive issues.
“I think the last few months have revealed that the general approach of a commission of inquiry to examine matters as serious and sensitive as what happened in the mother and child institutions, was probably not the right mechanism to follow.
“You are trying to do two things. On the one hand, it is trying to undertake a legal and judicial investigation of what is happening. But on the other hand, you are trying to allow a truth-telling exercise to take place where survivors can actually give their testimony in a safe space.
“Both routes were tested with this commission of inquiry, well that has not worked. I think we have to look very closely at that legislation and consider whether something much more specific and much more survivor-focused should be introduced for any similar research in the future, ”O’Gorman said.
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