President Higgins Says State ‘Must Take Primary Responsibility’ For Mother And Baby Homes

PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins has said that the State “must bear primary responsibility” for failing to support the tens of thousands of people who experienced maternal and child homes.

The long-awaited final report from the Mother and Baby Household Inquiry Commission was released earlier this week.

In a statement, the president said he welcomed the report’s release and said his thoughts are with those affected by the homes of mothers and babies.

He said the release of the report “is not a conclusion, but an indication of the additional work that is required to bring to light a more complete understanding of what happened.”

“It is the state that is in charge of safeguarding the well-being of its most vulnerable citizens, and it is the state that must bear the primary responsibility for not providing adequate support to these tens of thousands of young women and their children,” Higgins said.

It is also important to recognize, and with what consequences, how a newly independent state was captured by an authoritarian and critical version of church / state relations that sought to be the sole and ultimate arbiter of morality.

“Likewise, the religious, social and professional forces that rejected the role of the State in the protection of mothers and babies must be held accountable for the lack of respect for citizen rights that allowed it to prevail through their defense or collusion.”

The final report of the commission recommended that a state apology, reparation and access be offered to survivors of homes for mothers and babies operated in Ireland between 1922 and 1998.

The lengthy document confirmed that some 9,000 children died in the 18 households investigated, about 15% of all children who were in institutions.

Higgins said that the statements of the survivors of the houses included in the report should receive “adequate attention.”

“Those statements are such powerful revelations of a society, Church, State and its institutions that they contradict the features of any real republic built on equal rights of citizens, care, true freedom, solidarity and compassion.

He said the focus now must be “urgently meeting the needs and addressing the concerns” of survivors and their families.

“It is also important to belatedly acknowledging and thanking those who over the decades urged investigation or sought the facts and who were ignored, including in more recent times those like Catherine Corless,” he said.

The commission that published the report was created on the basis of claims that up to 800 babies were buried in an unnamed mass grave in an old Bon Secours home in Tuam, Co Galway, following extensive investigation by Catherine Corless.

“It’s not about getting over it, it’s about learning and changing,” said President Higgins.

The president described this as a “significant moment” for Irish citizens.

“Also for historians, and other scholars, to address what has perhaps been an inadequate treatment in their disciplines of issues of social class and abuse of authority, of the consequences of property rights and status taking precedence over rights. basic needs and human rights, all of which added to such evasions and obstructions as to the truth of what happened ”.